Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes
by LJ58
Summary: Kim is growing up, and changing, and now it's Kim Possible against the world! Only before it's over, the most unlikely of all allies may just help her save mankind's very future. If they can get along long enough to save themselves!
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**By LJ58**

**1**

Kim was grateful no one was up when she walked into the house just four months after leaving for college. It was Christmas beak, and she couldn't be happier. At least, she couldn't be happier that the term was over, she was back home, and had nothing, absolutely nothing, to distract her for one of the few times in her life.

Yes, she was absolutely ecstatic as she dropped her bags by the door, and looked around the dark house that didn't seem to have changed at all in her eyes though she had been gone for several months.

She walked through the hall leaving her bags behind, jumped up into the attic room that remained just as she left it without bothering with the ladder, or the steps, and dropped onto her bed still wearing her mission clothes that for once weren't burnt, ripped, torn, or even soiled.

She stared at the dark ceiling, and wondered if she weren't just being petty.

Okay, part of her was envious. She had to be honest about that much.

Who wouldn't be envious when your BFF since forever abruptly developed serious monkey mojo, and kicked villain butt like no one else in her entire life or memory. Even Shego could not stand up to Ron now when he got his mystic power flowing, and went full Monkey on her.

Yeah, she was definitely feeling the envy here just now.

Still, what really tweaked just now had more to do with the boyfriend part of her boy friend.

Seven months had passed since they had faced the Lorwardians, and Ron had literally saved her life, and the world. Seven months, and he only now decided that they weren't working out.

"I'm really sorry, Kim," he had told her earlier before their rides took them in different directions. "But we're both growing up, and it looks like we are growing apart. I hope we're always going to be friends, but it's time for the Ron-Man to admit it's time we went our own ways. I know you understand," he had said, sounding very mature.

She had stood there quietly while GJ took a battered Shego into custody, and dragged a whimpering Drakken away who couldn't stop staring at Ron with a look akin to horror.

She had barely gotten her knuckles dusty, she had been so useless on that one. And that after a long boring semester. She had so been ready for some action, too. Instead, she got to stand back and watch Ron flex his monkey powers while she played sidekick.

Even Rufus did more this time, as he was quick to perform the usual mayhem he usually guaranteed when he and Ron had gone after anything mechanical. The little hairless mole rat proved he still had his own mojo going, and Kim had barely been tested by the few henchmen still with Drakken before Ron had actually finished pummeling Shego into unconsciousness, and gone after Drakken.

Now, her mind still churning as she stared at her ceiling, she truly wished she felt better about Ron's stepping up, but she had to admit she was jealous. While she had been buried in books, and trying to prove she was just as good as ever, Ron had been spending all his time at Yamanouchi, and doing real work at a real cooking school/restaurant in Tokyo.

"_Playing to my strengths, KP_," he had grinned when explained his choices before they had gone off on their separate ways after a long, happy summer in spite of the rebuilding in the wake of the invasion.

For whatever reason, it had been a quiet summer, followed by an unusually quiet Fall, and just before she was to head home, Drakken popped up in defiance of his own conditional parole after all this time.

She had been almost gleeful as she anticipated testing her new moves against Shego after all that time. Until Ron cut in on their usual dance.

She sighed, and finally closed her eyes as she again recalled what came next.

Was she old news?

On the ride home she had learned 'Ninja Ron' had been quietly putting out 'fires' for GJ all along, and working for Yamanouchi as well. He had been doing his cooking school, training, and actually doing real ninja missions while she had been studying dry facts, and trying to pass what now seemed meaningless tests.

She banged her gloved fists at her sides on the bed, and gave a helpless grunt. Maybe she was over. Maybe it was time to just give up on the whole 'saving the world' bit. She wasn't exactly a kid anymore. Even Ron had reminded her about that one, making that comment about growing up. She sighed again, wondering when Ron had become the mature one in their relationship.

Only they didn't have a relationship any longer. From the way he had sounded, they had not had one in months, and she had not even noticed. Less points for her. Apparently, the few impersonal letters she had received of late had not been enough of a clue.

She sighed yet again, and forced herself to relax. Okay, so now she was a fifth wheel at her own game. Former game. A dropped wheel, if Ron was saying what she thought he was saying. So, no missions. No boyfriend. Nothing but three long weeks with the fam before it was back to school for the next term. This was so not how she expected to spend her holidays. Not even close.

**KP**

"Kimmie," her mother's voice woke her all too early the next morning.

"Oh, hey, mom," she smiled blandly as she forced herself to sit up, realizing she had dozed off laying on the end of the bed still clad in her mission clothes. Not the first time, but…..she didn't even look as if she had reason to be tired considering her near pristine state for a change.

"When did you get in, sweetie," Dr. Anne Possible asked, crushing her in her arms as she quickly met her when she stood up at the end of her bed.

"Mom! Air," she gasped.

"Sorry, dear," the neurosurgeon grinned as she released her, but only to hold her at arm's length as she studied her. "I've just really missed my daughter," she beamed. "And look how you've _grown_."

"Mom," she groaned.

"Okay, I know that face," Anne said as she released her, and stepped aside as Kim went toward the bathroom to rinse the sleep from her face after tossing her gloves aside. "What's wrong, Kimberly?"

"Ron and I broke up," she admitted.

"Oh. Oh, sweetheart, I'm sorry. What happened?" "He said we grew up, too. Only his version has us growing apart," she sighed as she paused to stare at her reflection.

"I see. No," she said a moment later. "I don't."

"I told you about his monkey powers," she said, reaching for a brush to straighten her hair as Anne watched her daughter pull back. Something she was still getting used to of late.

"Yes."

"Mom, last night he put down Shego _and_ Drakken inside of five minutes. Five minutes. I didn't do more than drop a few henchmen, and he was done. I felt…."

"Left out?"

"Worse. I felt….like I was the sidekick. I felt…..useless."

"Are you feeling jealous of his power, Kimberly? Or jealous of his moving on, and leaving you behind?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I think maybe…. Both. Part of me is happy he's really matured. He's come into his own, and I even heard from Douglas, the GJ agent that brought me in last night, that he's really been kicking major butt while I was off at college."

"And you wonder why you weren't invited?"

"Well, yeah," she nodded. "I mean, I know I decided to take a break so I could focus on my schooling, but GJ was my dream, and now Ron….."

"Maybe that's an answer," Ann suggested as her Kimmunicator, left laying on her desk, chirped just then.

She went to the desk after a sour look at her mother, and picked up the watch-like device Wade had redesigned to make more compact, and manageable.

"Hey, Kim. Welcome home," the familiar face of her friend materialized when the digital screen lit up.

"Wade? Is this important?"

"Well, sort of," the young genius actually blushed. "When I updated your site status, you know who called almost right away. She asked if you would come and get her cat down out of a tree. Again."

"Is that all, Wade," she asked quietly.

"Well, you've got two babysitting jobs lined up, and about forty legitimate offers to date. I deleted the rest. You don't want to know," he added quickly at her frown.

"Tell them all I'm busy. In fact, put me down as indefinitely indisposed," she told him.

"Kim?" She switched off the device, and tossed it back onto the desk as her mother just stared at her.

"Honey, are you sure?"

"Mom, I might not be saving the world any more it seems, but just once, I think I would like to just have a quiet holiday at home with…"

"Jim!"

"Look out, dad!"

"Tim," her father's voice shouted even louder just before the house shook as something exploded.

"You were saying," Ann asked.

Kim sighed, and finished brushing her hair before she headed for her closet to change. "Actually, that sounds about right, mom," she told her. "I'll be down as soon as I've changed. I don't know, maybe Ron is right. Maybe I'm too old to play the games we were playing any longer."

"Games," Ann frowned as she left her daughter, her expression troubled.

**KP**

The holiday break was almost over when Kim eyed the Kimmunicator as it chirped, and considered throwing it against the wall. Not that it would do any good. Wade had built it too well this time. Even the off switch didn't necessarily stop it, as he built in backups in case she were rendered unconscious, or taken captive.

She was considering more and more of late that those days, however, were gone. Done. Finito.

She considered the device a moment more, a part of her curious as to what it was this time. More babysitting. A pet needing rescue. Or some old lady that needed someone to shop for her. She wasn't sure. She was sure that she was done.

She turned the Kimmunicator over, opened the back, and pulled out the battery. The chirping stopped. Dropping both pieces of the device into a desk drawer, she headed for her door, and pondered what to do on her last free day before heading back to college.

It was actually a heady experience knowing that no one, and nothing demanded her time. That she was the only one who was going to decide her day for a change.

"Going to the mall, mom," she waved at her mother who was on the phone just then. "Be back for supper."

Ann waved, and then she headed outside, climbed into her car, and drove normally all the way to the mall, listening to the radio _after _she pulled the fuses for the built-in communication panel she had almost forgot Wade had installed.

She half expected Monique to still be in Club Banana, but she had moved on. Most of her high school friends had moved on. She was the only one that had been clinging to the past. As she idly wiled away her day window shopping, and browsing things she would never buy, she decided she was definitely, and officially done.

That whole alien sitch should have clued her. She had gotten in over her head fast there. If Ron hadn't been there, she'd be dead now. Actually, genuinely dead.

Instead, the aliens were dead, and Ron was the hero even if the rest of the world thought Drakken and Kim Possible had saved them.

Well, she saw how long Drakken's fame lasted. And how well it had gone.

Maybe it was time for her to consider a new line, too.

College first, and then…..

Well, she'd figure it out.

**KP**

"I was afraid of this," Betty Director said as she eyed the reports before her.

"That Drakken was coming back," Will asked, studying the action reports on the madman's latest attempt to take over the world.

"No, Will. That Kimberly might see Ron's maturing as both a man, and a hero as reason to leave her own heroing behind."

He put the report aside now, truly stunned as he absorbed what she was saying.

"She's quitting? Actually quitting?"

"She's quit," Betty told him.

"I would hardly think one amateur is going to tip the scales of justice one way or the other," Will Du drawled as he eyed his superior.

"Then you don't understand anything. She's a symbol, Will. A living representation of what can be done when you try your best in spite of the odds. Unfortunately, symbols can also be dangerous if they end up on the wrong side. Or even no side. We still need her."

"We've got Stoppable, and I have to admit, he's become far more competent than I ever suspected was possible for him. No pun intended."

"I wouldn't have thought you meant any," Betty told him dryly. "But Stoppable's first allegiance is always going to be that mystic ninja clan he favors. Sooner or later, he'll draw a line, and it won't be on our side. Besides, Kimberly's abilities are far more impressive than you realize. Perhaps more than she realizes."

"I can see where recruiting might slip if she stops championing Global Justice as the world's foremost institution for maintaining law and order around the world," he mused. "Still…."

"That's a part of it. But only a part of it. Consider this, however," she told him as she shoved her chair back, and turned to face him. "If Possible, used to daily challenges, suddenly finds herself bored with the life she is apparently choosing, what are the odds she'll go looking for some _new_ thrill?"

"Hmmmm. All things considered, I would suspect the odds are better than even," he admitted after a moment. "Much better."

"Exactly. But if she feels that GJ, or her hero days are done, then consider the odds she might decide to seek her thrills on the wrong side of the law."

"Even I wouldn't think…"

"Given Shego's early record, would you have felt _she_ would end up on the wrong side of the law? Helping even an incompetent villain like Lipski?"

"When you put it that way," he murmured uneasily.

"And, consider, too, Will. Unlike Shego, Possible isn't the lethargic, narcissistic kind to sit back and let someone direct her. She would be focused. Driven, and determined to win whatever the odds. In short, she would be the kind of villain we cannot afford to take chances with."

"Dr. Director, do you honestly think she would go rogue just because she grew bored somewhere down the road," Will asked.

"The numbers don't lie. Every statistic and model I've commissioned presents us with an evil Kim Possible if we don't keep her in the fold. And every one of those models has her either conquering, or destroying the world if we don't stop her _before_ she turns."

"Who did the models," he asked quite seriously.

"Dr. Franklyn Stein."

"He's one of the best in the field," Will frowned. "I've never known him to be wrong. He's the one that accurately predicted an alien invasion that year at the government disaster scenario games before the Lorwardians even showed up on our radar."

"And he's the one that predicts that if Kim leaves us, she is going to become evil."

"So, what do we do?"

"I'm waiting to hear from Stoppable now. I've asked him to…..intercede."

"I was under the impression they had split up from all accounts."

"They have," Betty remarked, looking troubled at that, too. "But who else do you think could reach her at this point? You?"

"Touché," he said quietly.

**KP**

"Possible," Shego snorted when she saw who her visitor was before she sat down at the visitor's table.

"Hey, Shego," she nodded, noting the green-skinned woman didn't look any the worse for wear after behind hammered like a nail just two weeks ago. "I'm not here for trouble. I only want to talk."

Shego smirked at her as she took her seat.

"You? Want to talk to me?"

"Truce," she asked, and slid a steaming, Styrofoam cup toward her.

Shego frowned, and pulled off the lid, and inhaled, unable to help smiling. "Is that….?"

"Triple mocha latte with cream. I remembered you always ordered it back when you were staying with us during that…."

"Don't remind me," Shego scowled, then took a sip of the rich coffee she was offered. "Heaven," she murmured, and set the cup down. "And they let you bring this in?"

"Well, what little fame I have left is still good for something," she shrugged. "Besides, like I said, I'm just here to talk."

"I can't tell you what Dr. D is planning this time. He broke out on his own this time. Knowing him, though, he probably ran home to cry on his mommy's shoulder," she growled, and took another deep sip of the coffee. "This is really good."

"I had one on the way over," Kim admitted, nodding her agreement.

"Okay. So what do you want to talk about, Princess? Because if it's not tips on mommy's little blue baby boy, I don't know what you think I can do for you."

"I was actually curious," Kim finally told her after a moment.

"About what?"

"You."

"Me," a dark brow rose as the hand holding her cup hesitated a moment. "Okay. I'll bite. Is this a reality show? Let's dupe Shego? Or are you setting me up for some….."

"Shego. It's just me, and you. Okay, and a few guards," she gestured around them. "Actually, I was just wanting to know….."

"Yeah," she asked when the redhead trailed off a moment, and looked confused.

"Why?"

"Why? Why what?"

"Well, you're…..obviously gifted in more than one way. Like now. You could walk out of here without breaking a sweat, and we both know it. So why stay? Why do what you do, when you could do _anything_ else you wanted?"

Shego frowned at her, and took another drink of her coffee.

"Let me guess. Kimmie's have a personal crisis, and isn't sure what _she_ should do?"

"I….I know what I'm going to do. But….I started thinking about you. I actually came to respect you over the years that we've fought, and…..I really just wanted to understand…."

"You want understanding. Find a shrink," Shego sneered at her, her eyes cold and hard. "As to why I'm still here? Hey, I've got free room and board. No one is going to screw with this badass in here. And when I'm ready, why, then I'll leave. For now, it's like a mini-vacation. One I don't have to pay for with my own money."

Shego smirked slyly as she eyed Kim, and told her, "But as for you, Princess? My secrets are just that. _Mine_. You want to know about me? Live my life. Maybe….. I stress _maybe_, you'll figure it out. In the meantime, butt out. I already have a mother."

"You do?" Kim slapped her own face. "Of course you do. I'm sorry. It's just…. Never mind. I didn't think this out. Thanks for seeing me, Shego. You'll understand if I don't wish you luck."

Shego shook her head as the redhead stood up, backing away as she continued to babble her apology.

"Hey, Princess?"

"Yeah?"

"Look out."

Kim yelped, and almost tripped over a guard, but managed to somersault backwards in time to land on both feet rather than her backside.

"And _that's_ why I love cheerleaders," she winked at Kim who blushed bright red after she flashed everyone there since she was wearing a knee-length skirt when she pulled off her move.

Kim turned and bolted as Shego's laughter followed her out of the visitor's room.

She left the prison, headed for her car already packed for her second term, and decided her impulsive visit to see Shego had not gone quite as she imagined. In fact, it pretty much was a disaster.

She sighed, and climbed into the driver's seat, grateful that sophomore's could bring their own cars, and while she had only been in college six months, she was a sophomore now. Sometimes being an overly obsessive, and driven perfectionist could pay off.

Putting her car in gear, she headed for the interstate, and put Shego's blatant taunting aside as she decided she wouldn't miss that sardonic witch after all. Not one bit.

_To Be Continued…._


	2. Chapter 2

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes (Tent)**

**By LJ58**

**2**

"She what? I see. Did you record it? Good. I want the footage sent to me at once," Betty Director demanded of her contact who only belatedly reported what she would have preferred knowing about the moment it had happened.

"Dr. Director," Will asked as he looked up from the report he was filing on one of a new crop of felons who seemed to be proving that intelligence was not a prerequisite in most criminal enterprises.

"Kimberly went to see Shego before leaving for college. I had hoped Ron would see her before now. I'll have to see if I can leave him another message to encourage him to take this more seriously."

"It's not the first time she's visited the woman," Will reminded her as he pondered the report himself.

"True. But this is the first time since she officially bowed out of heroing that she visited her. If she is out, then why was she doing there?"

"You're afraid this is the start of her crossing? That's she…..early?"

"It could be possible."

Will frowned. "Even Dr. Stein's models suggested at least two years before she reached that crossover point. Maybe it was something else," he suggested reasonably.

"Such as?"

"I don't know. As you sent for the security footage, I'm sure we should be able to find out what when we see it."

"I hope so, Will. I really don't like where this could go. Not one bit."

He didn't argue.

Oddly enough, Possible's retirement did seem to have encouraged a lot of the usual madmen, and then some. Some newcomers had shown up simply because they apparently felt if that lone redhead wasn't out there, then no one else could stop them.

It was obvious delusional on their part, and yet he had not forgotten what Dr. Director said about symbols cutting both ways. He had the feeling they were only seeing a part of that downside just now. Ironically, he now wished she were still out there, proving she was capable of anything, if only to put down half the nonsensible posers rising to fill the void of late.

Still, he was sure it couldn't get much worse.

He hoped.

**KP**

_Five Years Later: _

"And if you consider the long-term costs versus the proven expenses, then you have to accept that this is the best viable solution to handle….."

The woman paused as a beefy hand rose in the back of the open auditorium that was all but abandoned save for a very small, and scattered audience. She sighed wearily, nodding to him. "Yes, Mr. Secretary?"

"Dr. Possible," he asked the redhead, "While your…..credentials are hard to dispute," he stated blandly. "Aren't you stumping for a technology yet to be proven either cost-effective, or safe?"

"I believe I have proven it is both, Mr. Sanderson," she told the balding man from the White House. "If we adopt this means of rehabilitation….."

"How does freezing anyone like ice cubes rehabilitate anyone," a wiry woman with the Secretary of State demanded in a reedy shrill tone.

Kim pressed thumb and forefinger to her nostrils, mentally counting to ten as she shook her head.

"Rehabilitation comes in with the specialized subliminals used to….."

"Brainwash helpless victims," someone suggested.

Kim choked back a curse, and looked toward a certain reporter noted for seeking controversy to fuel his career. He had already shown up on her personal radar three times this year. First, when he tried to claim her graduating with a PhD. In biology and physics in just under four years was nothing short of academic nepotism. Second, when she had tried to get funding her project to address the growing prison population that was not getting better, and he suggested she was just trying to regain her 'fallen star' by playing a social Madonna.' And now he was here.

Where her audience had about as much interest in her work as a first year liberal arts student.

Kim drew a deep breath, and looked to her intern who was operating the slides.

"Burn everything," she told the young man, then turned around and walked out on her own presentation.

She didn't get halfway toward the exit when a woman dressed in dark blue came in the door to stand in her way. "Dr. Possible," Betty Director nodded. "Sorry I missed the show."

"You didn't miss anything," she said curtly.

"May I ask why you're cutting the Q&A short?"

She looked back to the men and women in the audience, those few that bothered to show, or even stay. "No one _intelligent_ showed up," she spat, aiming her comment at the Secretary and his cohort.

The man glared, but said nothing as he stood up, and stormed out. They both knew he was only there because she had invited the President to consider her proposal for hardcore felons and Omega level threats. Instead of the big man, or even the Attorney General, she got a misogynist who envied Islamic laws to handle women 'properly' as he had once put it. How anyone took him seriously was beyond her.

"Ignore him. He's an ass," Dr. Director surprised him by stating. "Unfortunately, he's the ass that probably is now going to kill my project," she said curtly, and glanced back to where the intern was doing just what she had said, and dropping the few slides and papers from her presentation into a trash can where a small fire already burned.

"Still paranoid, Kimberly?"

"Says the woman that seized half my earlier work when I wasn't looking. I never did _thank_ you for that, either," Kim realized blandly, her eyes far from indifferent.

"Kim, your quantum projector could have been used to threaten….."

"I know," she cut her off curtly. "But you didn't even trust me to build in the fail-safes that would have made it operable only under authorized…." She stopped, shook her head, and pushed past her. "You know what, forget it. I'm going on vacation. I don't need these headaches."

"And your cryo-prison?"

"Knock yourself out," she said, gesturing toward the fire in the wastebasket that her intern had just finished filling.

"Kimberly, wait….."

"You know," the redhead remarked as they left the building, and Kim headed straight for the nearby car she still drove. "It suddenly occurs to me that you're only here to seize my new cryo-tech. Too bad. It's in the one place even _you_ can't break in this time. So excuse me," she said as she reached her car, and climbed into the driver's seat.

"I'd like to hire you, Kimberly," Betty told her abruptly, holding the door before she could shut it, and drive away.

"Hire me," she asked, eyeing the women. "I think that ship sailed, Dr. Director. Right under the bridge _you_ burned."

"No, Kimberly. You burned it. And in all this time, you cannot tell me you've been happy with the life you're building here."

"You know nothing about my life," she spat, then frowned as the woman that yet held her door, meeting her gaze with her good eye. Unlike most, Betty refused to accept one of the new cybernetic optical implants available. She was likely too worried it might be hacked for passive spying, or even allow someone to control her.

"I know you're not exactly challenged lately. I know you're frustrated with the bureaucracy holding you back. Just give me ten minutes," she asked. "I have a proposal for you. Something that might just….challenge even you. Perhaps….over lunch?"

"All right. Ten minutes. But you're buying."

"Agreed," Betty nodded, and gestured for her driver who sat nearby to follow as she realized Kim's door, and walked around to the passenger door and stood until Kim unlocked the door.

"I expected you to meet me somewhere," she said blandly as the woman climbed into the car.

"And risk you pulling another disappearing act? You're better than _Shego_ at vanishing when you want to these days."

"Well I hope you quit listening to that moron Stein about the odds I'm going to turn evil any day now," she retorted knowingly.

"You can't blame me for worrying about that. Not after Shego," Dr. Director told her bluntly.

"So, now you're comparing me to that loopy…?"

"Kimberly, forget Shego."

"I have," Kim smiled smugly.

"Easily done after the say she seemed to have….vanished lately," Dr. Director commented.

"I wouldn't know," Kim declared tonelessly, and put the car in gear, ignoring the alleged journalist trying to stamp out the flames after dropping the mostly burned papers from the waste basket outside the door. She only shook her head at that. Still, she didn't miss Betty's glance at the AI console that had replaced Wade's old communications panel that had once occupied her dash.

"I would have thought you might at least be curious. Considering your….past."

Kim just shot her a quick glare.

"So," Kim finally smirked slightly after she pulled onto the road. "You don't know what happened to her?"

"I'll be the first to admit I _haven't_ missed her showing back up every other month. Wherever she's gotten to this time, I'm actually hoping she stays."

Kim shrugged. "Anything is possible," she quipped.

"Right."

"So, are you going to give me the spiel now, or wait until we get to the restaurant?"

Betty eyed her. "I think I'll wait. I'd prefer you didn't have an easy way to toss me out, and disappear."

Kim smirked. "And you call me paranoid," she told her one-time role model.

"You could give Roland Rollo lessons on eccentricity these days, Kimberly, and we both know it," she told her, naming a star famous for appearing only to film his roles, and vanishing until the next casting call.

Ten minutes later, with Betty's pull, they were at a table in a very exclusive restaurant. No one even batted an eye at Kim's presence. Her own star had faded in the past few years, and only professional controversy kept her name familiar to certain persons in certain fields.

"All right," she said, biting into a bread stick as she waited for their order. "Let's hear it."

"America might not want to invest in your vision for penal reform," Betty told her. "But GJ does. You yourself know we often arrest some very dangerous felons that end up placed in ordinary prisons that cannot hope to hold them. And often don't."

"I've been there. Remember," Kim told her. "How many times did I drag those loopy villains in for you in a single year?"

Betty nodded. "The point is, I want you to give your presentation to my superiors, and when they approve it, which I'm positive they will, then I want you to oversee building a facility for us on neutral territory for our high-profile felons and Omegas."

"You sound pretty confident they'll listen to me this time."

"I believe they will when they realize what you're offering," Dr. Director nodded firmly her way as she sipped coffee rather than the ice water brought them.

"All right. I'll give them a try. But I'm not holding my breath. If they were that interested, they would have been here today."

"They don't like Secretary Sanderson either," Betty smiled thinly. "Trust me, it wouldn't have been pretty. And we were arranging a _private_ meeting. First thing in the morning at the local GJ office."

"Am I still cleared to enter your clubhouse," she asked curtly as the waitress appeared carrying two salads, hers topped liberally with the grilled chicken she ordered.

"You'll be with me. Eight sharp, at this address," she said, sliding a card across the table.

"I know that salon. I didn't know it was one of your fronts."

"We might recall that we do like to blend in."

"Obviously. Now, about your end of the proposal? I've yet to hear anything that makes me all that excited about trying to win people over that were trying to consider arresting me 'just in case' not two years ago."

"That was my fault, and I've apologized. It's done. Now, let's focus. First off, I've giving you the opportunity to pitch your cryo-prison, and especially your rehab techniques to the council. But I also want you to address the U.N. Council, too. With their backing, they could really help fund larger facilities beyond our immediate necessities, and give us all greater credence."

"Okay, I can see that. And the gravy? I'm sure you think you have something to entice me. Let's hear it now."

"All right. I want the Omegas separated from ordinary felons. I don't want them anywhere where anyone could still conceivably reach them, or free them. That's another reason I seized on your idea. It coincides with an idea I've had in the back of my mind for some time, and that I would like you to help make a reality."

"Oh?"

"Think about it. Cryo-cells someplace where _no one _on the planet could reach them, or free them until the authorities give the word. Sound like something you would be interested in overseeing?"

"Hmmmm. You're either planning on a deep sea operation, which would be cost prohibitive with your budget, or you're planning a lunar prison."

"I see you're as sharp as ever," Betty nodded with a faint smile. "That's right. We want an Omega-holding facility built on the moon. In fact, I'm hoping once the council hears your pitch, and accepts, you'll be on the advance team to head up and start making it happen _within the year_."

"I'm not really that good on the construction side of things. My brothers….."

"We have already hired Possible, Inc. to help begin building the actual base itself. The holding cells, security, and cryo-tech, however, are going to be all yours. After all, we'll also need full containment systems for prisoners we are ferrying back and forth, and the usual security since we obviously won't be having everyone in stasis all the time."

"It does sound like a challenge," Kim admitted, rubbing her chin as she leaned back in her chair, having only eaten half her grilled chicken salad, and that after picking out most of the meat first.

"So, I can expect you?"

"I'll sound them out as much as they're sounding me out tomorrow," Kim nodded after a moment. "But if this is another ploy on your part, Dr. Director, you will have burnt your last bridge."

"I should tell you, Wade's already working with us on this one, too."

Kim eyed her, and only shrugged. "I didn't expect someone that bright to set around doing nothing."

"No, of course not. Dessert," she asked as Kim shoved the remnants of her salad aside, and finished the lemonade she had ordered.

"No, thanks. I have…..things to get back to at my own place."

"Oh?"

"Thanks for lunch, Dr. Director," she told her, rising from her seat. "Don't forget to tip."

Betty watched the woman walk out without looking back. Still lean. Still obviously fit. She didn't doubt she could likely face anyone out there just now, and not break a sweat. She narrowed her eyes as she reached to her innocuous belt, and thumbed the buckle.

"Douglas, are you in place?"

"Roger, Dr. Director," came the reply in her right ear where her transceiver was hidden in an earring.

"Make sure she sees you, and then dispatch Agent Chang to follow her when she inevitably reacts to your presence."

"Understood," another voice answered. "However, we could not bug the target's vehicle. The security system apparently includes some manner of passive magnetic repulsion system that won't let us near it."

"Of course not," Betty grumbled. "What about from below?"

"Negative," Douglas spoke again. "It's completely surrounded by the field."

"I see," she murmured into her hidden mike.

"She's coming now," the second agent reported.

"Chang, do not lose her."

"I'm right behind her," the man told her, and then went silent.

"She hasn't seemed to notice him, which means his stealth is working. There is another man following, though, Dr. Director," her man reported a moment later.

"Fred Tanner. The Weekly Globe. He's been trying to lambaste her for over a year since learning she was in the area. I may have to intercede. He's going to set her off if he keeps pushing her as he has."

"Tanner just cut me off," Chang reported, breaking his radio silence. "Our target has definitely spotted him. She just took a hard right, and then made a u-turn on Westchester. I'm moving to….. Never mind. The car vanished. I mean, literally vanished. I cannot find her anywhere. Even IFR isn't picking up a trace."

Betty's hand shook as she reached for her coffee. The waitress came over looking concerned as she saw her expression, and asked, "Is everything all right, ma'am?"

"Oh, yes. Fine. Just got some bad news," she said, and pulled out a silver credit card with her agency logo on it. "Add yourself a nice tip," she forced herself to smile, and handed the card over.

"Yes, ma'am," she smiled, and took the card. "I'll be right back with your receipt."

Betty fumed. She knew that vehicle had to still be carrying some pretty sophisticated hardware considering Kimberly still managed to evade anyone after her after all this time. She heard a few of her old rogues had even gone after her a few times, but she never heard of them since. Dementor. Hall. Even Shego was supposedly going after her over a year ago. Yet Kimberly was still at the university, and none of those villains had been seen since.

Except Dementor, she thought grimly.

It made her wonder. A lot. But every time she got anywhere close to Kimerly, someone screwed up. As when Will took it into his own mind to confiscate her quantum projector before it could conceivably be used by _someone_ for illegal, or unethical purposes. Only to do so, he had to break into her private home, hack her computers, steal all her notes, the prototype, and generally leave her place a mess since getting in had not been easy.

She had gone under the radar since. No one knew where she lived now. She was completely off the grid. The redhead had argued in court to try to sue for the return of her intellectual property, but even the American government had snubbed her on that one after realizing what kind of potential weapon she had developed right under their noses. Her patent suddenly disappeared, and she was forbidden from duplicating the work.

She had been furious after that one, and for a very long, tense year Betty was afraid that might have been the tipping point.

Then the villains starting hunting Kim again despite the fact it was plain she had turned her back on them, and a year later she showed up to finish her PhD., and focused on a new idea that just unique enough to make people listen. At first.

Until they realized the cost in billions that would be lost from the traditional penal system that wouldn't be housing those 'popsicles' if her plan went forth as she envisioned. The companies behind a lot of penal businesses and profit quickly moved to block her as they learned of her thesis, and as Secretary Sanderson had stock in a lot of those very companies, she could see why he had been a hostile observer today, and Kimberly had to know that.

Had to know.

So why had she bothered to waste her time?

"She knew," Betty suddenly realized. Kimberly obviously already knew all about the lunar base she was building. She used the entire presentation to bring her here, knowing Betty would never find her any other way.

As she had known, Possible was still sharp. Sharper than some of her peers realized if she had arranged this entire meeting for her own convenience. Having that intern cued to burn everything should have tipped her to the ploy then and there.

The waitress frowned in confusion when she returned to find Betty smiling knowingly now.

"Your receipt, ma'am."

"Thank you. Have a good day," she said absently, not even bothering to look at the receipt as she took it. She knew the restaurant, and knew a fifteen percent gratuity was standard.

Heading for the door, she waited as Douglas pulled up to the curb, and opened the door for her. She sat back in her seat, and called Chang, asking, "Where are you?"

"Watching Tanner run up and down Westchester looking for empty spaces."

"Idiot. By now, she launched that thing into the air, and is long gone. Report back to the office, Chang. This one's a bust."

"Yes, ma'am. Sorry, ma'am."

"Not your fault, Chang. I should have anticipated that weasel getting in the way. Just as I should have anticipated that magnetic security envelope of hers." She shook her head as Douglas pulled out, and headed toward the local office. "I should have seen a lot of this coming much sooner," she stated cryptically. "I guess I am getting old."

No one commented on that one.

_To Be Continued…._


	3. Chapter 3

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**By LJ58**

**3**

She knew, Kim decided.

Or, at the least, Dr. Director had a strong suspicion. That was what Kim decided as she walked into her basement workshop in the 'abandoned' tenement building she had leased under an assumed name, and then left it boarded up to hide her occupation of the building she only refurbished below the street level where eyes couldn't see what she was doing.

Her Roth was parked in an underground hangar that opened under the empty parking lot to one side that was surrounded by barbed wire and warning signs suggesting dangerous construction. Her own room was a small efficiency apartment to one side of the underground level she had turned into a workspace. The rest of the level was made up of several locked chambers that joined together to form a large laboratory. Each of them devoted to different experiments her eclectic mind might be considering at any given time.

One particular chamber was sealed with an insulated steel panel that was double-locked, magnetically sealed, and had its own power source.

Five cyro-beds filled that large, carefully refrigerated space. Two of the beds were already filled. Shego, and DNAmy occupied them. She had last seen Drakken running for home, promising never to even show his face again. She didn't know what happened to Dementor after the last time she had faced him. She had lost her temper, she admitted, and beat him so badly he could barely walk when he stumbled into a subway tunnel, and that was the last she had seen of him.

Shego, however, had been taken primarily as a favor for Ron.

She paused, staring down at the sleeping, green woman in that frosted tube that looked so…..different while she was still. She sighed, putting a hand on the tube as she studied her. She just wouldn't be reasonable. Had to push. Kim even tried to give her a second chance at the end. Why, even she couldn't say. She just….tried. Only Shego wouldn't listen. Wouldn't give up.

She still remembered when Ron had come to her just fourteen months ago, and told her honestly, "I just don't know what to do. I don't want to kill someone who isn't really that evil. Only she's going to keep pushing until it happens. You used to talk to her. Could you….I don't know, warn her off? Because if she interferes in _our_ business again, I'll have no other choice, Kim," he had told her. "And I really would prefer not to have to make that choice."

She had been playing around with the cryo notion at the time when Ron had showed up unexpectedly after chasing Shego away from another Yamanouchi 'concern.'

Once the idea popped up, it didn't take her long to focus on a practical application. She asked Ron to keep her busy for a few months, and went to work. Six months later, Shego walked into a trap, and didn't walk out.

Still, she had tried to give her that last chance. One the green-skinned woman had thrown back in her face. She babbled about finishing her job once paid was a matter of honor. As if being a paid mercenary were any better than being Drakken's occasional lackey. She just didn't understand the woman. In the end, she was left with little choice, and she had put her in deep freeze, as Ron put it. Only she kept her close. To personally monitor her, and, in her mind, keep her…..safe.

From being prematurely released, she reasoned.

She would not accept any other reason.

Then, when DNAmy interfered with a ninja operation hunting her missing Monte, and endangering Kyoto with her bizarre creations, she was delivered to her, too. Kim told Ron not to come back after he had delivered her, though. If he wanted to cut their ties, he had to accept she was not going to clean up all his messes either. Besides, even she had qualms about what they were doing. Okay, slight ones, but they were there.

Still, even after all the time since she last took a mission, Drakken had personally come after her a few months later, thinking Kim knew something about his missing partner, and his apparently sometimes companion Amy Hall, too. A thought that didn't settle well in her mind after hearing it. Drakken proved his stupidity had not lessened by trying to jump her alone, at school, in broad daylight. Even without her best moves, she had run him off with such ease, she rather doubted she'd be seeing him anytime soon. Especially after the threats she had hurled after him as he bolted from a very bad whipping.

Dementor had just showed up looking for payback, and thinking that if she was building quantum projectors now, she could also build something for him. He seemed to think the expansion of her mind had somehow implied the degeneration of her skills.

When he injured one of her students she was teaching in a class she was supervising as a TA, she had to admit she had lost it. She chased him down the streets from the college, and the last she saw, he had escaped into a subway by falling into the tunnel.

By then the transit police showed up after hearing reports of a woman rampaging through the crowds. Naturally, the cops came after her. No one ever found Dementor so far as she knew. She certainly didn't bother to help look.

She paused at the door to her cryo-chamber now, studying the life signs. Both were strong, but very greatly subdued. Shego and Amy both were still alive, and neither exhibited any harmful affects, or mental resistance to the sublims she was using from what her instruments told her. Of course, considering their individual levels of social anarchy, it would likely take far more than a few months of 'rehab' to affect any real change in these women. Or eight, in Shego's case.

She rechecked the instruments monitoring the cryo-chamber itself, and nodded in satisfaction at the sleeping woman.

True cryogenic suspension had proven unviable, and potentially lethal in the past because the people trying to employ it wanted to completely freeze the subject. The key was to reduce cellular activity to a nearly inactive state without actually freezing the tissue or blood. The cases of severe hypothermia she had studied in those that had been immersed in freezing water and survived had been a clue. As long as she kept them on the verge of freezing without actually freezing them, they would survive. And it worked. She had not only used the system on test animals with one hundred percent success, she had used it on herself using a remote timer that left her in perfect cryogenic suspension for three full months without any harmful affects.

Having proved it worked, she called Ron when she had been ready, and Shego became her first 'prisoner.' She now believed that Betty knew she had her, though. Likely Amy, too, though she couldn't be sure. But she doubted Betty dropping Shego's name had been an accident. Any more than showing up as she had was simple coincidence. She might be legitimately concerned and interested, but she already proved what she really thought about Kim even before Kim had pointedly lured her out to her just to finally share a potential solution to the prison issue with her.

On her terms. She still had issues with Dr. Director on a personal level, and that wasn't going away.

Two years ago, she learned GJ had an entire squad devoted to watching her. That they were actually expecting her to go rogue, and endanger the world based on some quack's statistics had her seriously tweaked. It wasn't quite so funny when she learned the unit watching her was instructed to take her down the moment she exhibited the slightest questionable behavior. That knowledge was discovered after they seized her then latest invention she had built trying to solve the problem of genuine teleportation. By then, she knew Betty was no longer truly her friend.

Walking into her main lab after a last look at her 'guests,' she studied the building security, and noted she was collecting some indigents along the front walk again. She'd have to discourage that. She didn't want to risk her home gaining the wrong kind of attention, or someone thinking to break in for a free crib. Putting that off for now, she headed for her working lab, and rechecked the data on the cryo-fields she designed, and downloaded a special flash drive. One designed to purge itself if anyone tried to download anything from it without the proper encryptions.

She still didn't trust Betty, after all, and she had the feeling that the moment she tried to open any files on a GJ hard drive, the woman would likely be trying to copy it.

Let her try.

"Okay, that takes care of the job fair. Now to check on the home front," she murmured. She was more than a little curious about the twins actually working for Betty. They had a reputation more suited for destruction than construction. Still, they did have a reputation of late for building solid and dependable rockets. Maybe a moon base was just the next logical step for them.

**KP**

"I don't think you fully understand," Kim told the older man at the table with two women and two other men eyeing her. The guiding force behind Global Justice since Dr. Director had let the U.N. become its official sponsor to give her fledgling group credibility in the eyes of the world as it grew from a small, private investigative firm over the years to a genuinely global paramilitary law enforcement agency.

"You said you just freeze them, and then subject them to subliminal rehab. That's it? Right," the man shrugged.

"The cryogenic process is more delicate than just throwing a body in a freezer. You don't actually freeze the subject, which is why so many earlier efforts have failed. You must in fact, subject them to a controlled state of advanced hypothermia just short of actual freezing that slows the body's metabolic rate by a factor of….."

"I understand that," the man waved a hand of dismissal for her explanation. "But what about the subliminal programming? How do you know it works? Can you really be assured that you can make someone obey you just by making them hear anything you put in their heads?"

"And how do they hear anything if they're frozen," another man asked, making it plain that they either weren't listening, or they were….stalling her?

She ignored the questions, and looked over at Dr. Director who sat serenely quiet as she watched, and simply listened.

"I'm being duped again, aren't I? Or are these people really _this_ stupid?"

"Now see here," one of the men sputtered.

"Kimberly, we do have legitimate questions. I know I do, and I actually understood most of what you have told us. For instance, the rehab portion of your program? Just how does an apparently inactive mind…."

"The brain isn't inactive in cryo," she cut her off. "That's a misconception."

"And how do you know that," the same older man asked.

"Because I used the process on myself to assure my theory, and method was correct before I attempted to publish my findings," she blurted out.

Not one of the people on the council didn't gape.

"You….actually froze….yourself?"

"Yes," she nodded firmly at the man. "So I know firsthand that it does work. And work well."

"The time period you were missing," Betty realized. "I assume you had someone _trustworthy_ helping you then?"

"Yes," she said cryptically, not mentioning it was her then experimental AI that oversaw the entire experiment. "The point is, the system works. And the brain is active in a fugue state akin to REM sleep. During that period, if you can find and tap the precise neuro-frequency of a particular mind, you can influence its patterns."

She paused, eyeing each of the six people around her. Especially Betty.

"You _cannot_ program human robots," she told them. "I will say up front that you cannot _make_ someone simply do what you want. But I do believe that you can _subtly_ influence them to reconsider past behaviors. Which is the whole point of genuine rehabilitation that current prisons misses."

"All right," the hitherto silent woman spoke up. "I have to say, if it this method works even a tenth as well as you suggest, we have to consider it. Frankly, even a lunar prison where we have to keep guards, resources, and other critical material constantly supplied would soon become as prohibitively expensive as current prisons. But a storage facility of…..frozen prisoners, unlikely to become a new threat in the future….. That is worth considering," the younger woman on the board nodded at her. "I vote aye."

Four votes later, they agreed to let her speak to the U.N. ruling council that would give final authority to her to oversee the building and setup of her cryo-prison on the moon. She still felt something was off here, but this was what she had been wanting. A chance to finally prove herself without using her fists, or her feet. A chance to show that world that Kim Possible was about more than just kicking butt.

Three weeks later, she would have cause to regret her decision to ignore her instinctive mistrust of Betty and her council at that moment.

**KP**

Kim stared around her at the images of a fully functional prison annex she finally discovered on the lunar surface, and realized one thing instantly.

"You lied to me," she hissed, glaring at Betty as they stood in a secure monitoring room where she saw the first beds based on her own design were already being set up. After weeks of work, she thought they were only getting ready to start building. Betty, however, had been a full ten steps ahead of her without her even realizing it.

"No, Kim. I didn't. I said we were creating a prison on the moon, and we are. Only we couldn't perfect the cryo-sleep program that you did. We needed your system. We needed you. Only you still don't want to fully cooperate, and we still have to consider you might yet turn against us. Your actions of late have proven you are the verge of doing just that, too. You must see we can't allow that."

She fixed a baleful glare on the woman and demanded, "What actions?"

"Incarcerating Shego and Amy Hall in your private prison without a judge or jury even seeing them? Or what of the assault on Drew Lipski, and the fatal beating of Professor Demenz."

"Fatal," she sputtered, not reacting to the other accusations from Will who stood directly behind her.

"We found him in a side tunnel in a local subway tube. He died of his injuries before he could reach help," Betty told her.

"I never heard that," Kim murmured.

"We kept it quiet," Betty told her. "We didn't want you hearing the news, and bolting."

"He attacked me first. I was defending myself."

"Even the witnesses claimed they were afraid _you_ had snapped after you went after him. He was fleeing, and you still chased him down eleven city blocks, and subjected him to a brutal beating before transit authorities intercepted you."

"Likely on your orders. And if they had listened to me, they would have found him, and he wouldn't have died. So you can't put that one on me," Kim spat.

"Do you hear yourself? Justifying an innocent man's death," Will demanded.

"_Innocent_," Kim spat back at Will. "Dementor was never innocent. He put one of my student's in ICU that day while trying to grab me."

"The point is, we found your lair," Will told her smugly. "Even you couldn't hide from satellite tracking once we knew you were staying in the immediate vicinity of the university. We're already pulling your _victims_ out, and….."

Kim frowned, and glanced not at the eleven armed GJ agents around her, but at her small watch. The dial, which she had not noticed until then, was now glowing red instead of the usual gold.

"What does that mean," Betty asked her, noting the direction of her gaze.

"It means," she said quietly. "Your idiots have triggered my fail safe defenses. You have three minutes to evacuate your people before my so-called lair self-destructs, and takes the entire block with it."

"You're bluffing," Will hissed.

Betty didn't bother. "Alpha team. Abort. I say again. Abort. Get out of there _now_!" "But, Dr. Director," came a confused reply over her own wrist radio. An older design Kim recognized at once. "We're in the main lab now. We have Shego and Dr. Hall out, and in the portable containment facility, but we're still sifting the…."

"Get out now. That place is going up in…..two minutes!"

The man's curse was eloquent.

"Clear the entire area, Alpha," Betty advised them. "The entire block is a no-man's land. Copy?"

There was no immediate reply.

"Alpha? Alpha, report," she hissed as the channel remained silent.

Betty stared at Kim, who said nothing as she stood there, mentally assessing her situation even as the men tightened their grip on their weapons. All of them now pointed at her.

"Dr. Director, Alpha leader….here. Sorry. Ears….still ringing. The whole building just came down. We secured the omegas, but nothing else. It's a complete loss. Sorry."

"Did everyone get out?"

"Yes, ma'am. It was close, but you warned us in time to clear the building."

"Thank God," Betty said, and turned to eye Kim again. "Not a lair," she asked.

"I doubt you let anyone just walk into GJ. I was defending my home and property. Deal with it," she snapped.

"Take her to Luna-1," Betty snapped.

Kim only stared at her, her fingers brushing her watch again as she sent a single command to a certain computer just in case.

"No judge? No jury," she asked coolly.

"I'm not operating under American authority, Kimberly. Remember? GJ has an obligation to proactively protect the world. Even from its former heroes."

Kim never felt the jolt of the taser in her side.

**KP**

Ron heard about the destruction of Kim's lab, of course. Even GJ couldn't silence the sources he had as the newest head of a global ninja network. He didn't believe for one moment that Kim Possible had apparently died in the 'accident' they declared had claimed her private laboratory.

It was just two days ago that the Roth had appeared outside the walls of Yamanouchi, and he had thought at first it was his old friend coming to visit. Instead, the AI had brought itself to him on autopilot on Kim's instructions. If she were caught, or incapacitated, she was to go to Ron seeking a hiding place, and shut down after protecting itself as best she could until summoned again.

'She,' as Kim considered the AI she nicknamed Jade to be a sentient being in her own right after she began to develop and mature.

Jade, Ron knew, was part of what Betty had been hunting for all along when rumors of Kim's work on an experimental artificial intelligence first hit the Web. Even though nothing was ever made public, Betty knew Kim too well to just believe she had either failed, or given up when nothing materialized. Especially as Kim had been growing increasingly secretive, and hostile.

Ron had been unable to do anything but watch the pair as things grew more and more uneasy between them. And now Kim was allegedly dead, and her car had come to him to hide.

Ron let Jade hide in a deep cavern where the robotic car that began as a Detroit nightmare cloaked itself in an electronic mask and then activated the magnetic shield to await its mistress.

Ron then set to work seeking Kim's current whereabouts. Covertly, of course.

It didn't take long, but even a mystically-powered ninja of his skills couldn't reach the moon. Even he couldn't find a top-secret military prison that could have been located anywhere on the lifeless satellite orbiting the planet. He considered everything, and then cut Yamanouchi's final ties with Global Justice, his first official act as the new Sensei of the ninja academy, and in his own way, became a far greater threat to Dr. Director's hopes for a united world than she had ever imagined.

Especially as Japan, following their champion's less than subtle lead, eventually kicked GJ out of their country, and refused to allow their operatives to enter the nation any longer. It was the start of a long, downward spiral for Dr. Director's once proud organization.

That, however, was a tale that was soon lost to time.

_To Be Continued…_


	4. Chapter 4

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**By LJ58**

**4**

Kim woke with a lethargic yawn.

She immediately realized she was surrounded by nine men and women standing around staring at her cyro-tube even as she shoved it open.

They were not, however, the people she expected. True, she recognized some of them, but five were complete strangers. And they all wore the same thin, white jumpsuit of someone who had just woke from the same conditions she had just then.

She took the white jumpsuit from Shego's hand she offered her with a faint smirk, silent, but mockingly staring at her, and Kim realized only that green-skinned woman had the six men facing the other direction as Amy and the lanky teen girl with pink hair Kim didn't know studied her with disdain.

"She don't look like much," the girl huffed.

"Trust me, Pinky," Shego snipped as Kim pulled on the utilitarian garment. "She's the only reason any of us are probably still alive. Right, Princess?"

Kim smiled thinly. "Probably, since most of the current cryogenics experts still thought you had to freeze someone solid to be deemed genuine hibernation. So, how did we all wake up on cue here?"

"On cue? Princess, we've been coming out two and three at a time every so often since yesterday. I was one of the first. Drew popped up next, and I was all for leaving you on ice. Until we realized something….disturbing."

"Yeah? What's that," she asked as she pulled on the garment that wasn't much, but better than standing there naked in front of all of them.

"We probably can't escape without you," Shego told her with a grim earnestness.

"Escape?" She pulled up the zipper, and pulled on the static-free booties to protect her bare feet from the cold deck. "Wait, where are the guards?"

"Before we start anything…..awkwardly belligerent, Kimberly Anne, perhaps you should come and take a look at this," Dr. Drakken told her as he gestured to a nearby computer panel without turning to face her as yet.

She frowned at him, thinking he was being uncommonly cooperative and civil, but Shego just glared like always. "I'm decent guys. Thanks for the courtesy," she said, and then walked past Drakken and looked down at the computer panel that was covered with recently disturbed dust.

"Wow. Someone forgot to pay the housecleaners," she quipped.

"Laugh it up, Princess," Shego huffed. "But first take a closer look."

Kim frowned as she studied the computer. "This can't be right," she rasped as she studied the readouts on the console. "This…. It can't be right."

"I'm afraid so, sweetie," Amy Hall told her kindly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I expected five years. My failsafe was five years. Not….."

"Five hundred," a huge, bald black giant that would soon introduce himself as Brute told her. "Five hundred and sixteen years, to be precise. And there were well over a thousand of us in here. Only we're the only nine that woke up. Or ever will," he added somberly.

"That can't be right," she protested. "What about the…..?"

"You don't want to see," Drew cut her off as she turned to one of the nearest unopened cryo-beds covered by a spare jumpsuit. "Trust me," he told her, blocking her view. "You don't."

She swallowed hard. "And no guards?"

"No nothing," a lean, twenty-something male she knew was code-named Blok for his ability to turn his flesh into living stone, and absorb any force thrown against him. How they caught him was a mystery, as he was obviously taken after she had been ambushed. "We woke up here, and couldn't get the doors open, or the computer to do more than give us the time. No one has shown up, and we can't get any response from banging on the doors."

"Greenie here said you could help, tough," the pink-haired teen said, earning a sharp look from Shego.

Kim only nodded, and after regaining her composure, she walked over to an auxiliary system she dusted off.

"I get it. I see now. No wonder," she said. "Power levels are almost tapped. It's a wonder we survived, let alone have any air left in here. The drain of a thousand cryo-beds must have….."

She turned to the nearest covered tube, and paled as she looked down a corridor made of dark beds.

"So, all those had….people? Are they all….?"

"They won't be waking up, Kimberly Anne," Drew told her gently.

"This isn't what I intended."

"Never mind that. How do we get out of this deathtrap?"

She turned to eye Shego, and then looked around, her green eyes gleaming thoughtfully.

"Can you still generate bio-plasma?"

"You mean this," she smirked characteristically, holding up one hand in a very obscene gesture that glowed with a dark green aura.

"Perfect," Kim nodded, saying nothing of the gesture. "Come here," she said, and knelt to pull off a panel beneath the auxiliary system. "See that blue box? Right, that's it," she nodded when Shego joined her, pointing out the small junction between several large electrical cables.

"First, I need you to slice that end of the main cable free."

Shego used a glowing claw to deftly cut the cable free, and Kim nodded. "Okay, give me a sec," she said, and quickly stripped a few of the interior wires on the sharp edge of the open panel, and then rewired them before she stepped back.

"Now, try to send as much energy as you can through the cable."

"And that does what?"

"Trust me, Shego. I'm in this with you," she said quietly, still absorbing the fact her five year failsafe had somehow turned into five centuries. What had happened out there? Where were all the guards and personnel that should have been watching, and maintaining this place?

"I believe we should cooperate, Shego," Drew told her quietly as the others just stared silently at them as Kim worked under the console.

"Look, Dr. Dimwit. You might have woke up with a new, and sweeter personality, but I've got a five hundred year old hangover you wouldn't believe. So I don't care what you believe," she growled as her hand flared brightly again, and the computer panels all began to glow brightly as gauges and lights flickered, and more systems came back online as the auxiliary panel began to hum loudly.

"Keep it up, Shego," Kim cheered. "You're doing it. A few more ergs, and you should recharge all the auxiliary systems we need."

"Hooray for me," she muttered, and channeled more of her power into the cable. "But I'm still holding out for one damn good explanation."

"We all are, Shego," Drew pointed out reasonably.

"Indeed," Amy smiled. "And I'm sure Kimberly will help us find out what is going on. She is, after all, the person that helped design all this nifty stuff."

"Nifty stuff," Surge, the pink-haired girl muttered. "We got turned into popsicles because of her. And I _hate_ popsicles."

"Stow it, Pinky," Shego growled at her. "For now, we cooperate. Once we're free and clear, then we can take Princess apart for screwing us all over royally."

"I would say she paid already, considering she was subjected to the same punishment visited upon all of us," the seven foot Brute remarked blandly.

"Oh, goody, and now we hear from the nerd corner."

The big man stared at her, and only shook his head.

"I'm just pointing out….."

"Enough," a lean, Arab with a thin goatee hissed. "You may babble all you wish once we are free. For now, let the infidel bitch free us of this infernal prison, and then you may argue all you like."

"The resident meanie has a point," Amy smiled.

"All right, Shego," Kim told her as she continued to study the readings on the dusty panel. "I think that should be enough. Let me just check the environmental controls….."

"If they work, we are free, and I am leaving," the Arab snapped.

"Wait," Kim shouted as the man pulled open a hatch that now had a glowing, green panel that let him open the electronic lock.

Even as he stepped through, a laser literally cored his skull, burning a hole through his brow to the back of his head. The man fell back, staring vacantly at the ceiling, already dead.

"Doy," Shego gasped. "I _hate_ lasers."

"I tried to tell him," Kim grimaced, "That the reboot probably also reactivated the auto defenses."

"Then how do we get out of this mausoleum," Shego asked as she stared down the long corridor that led to another door at the far end.

"By listening to me," Kim told her sharply as she turned to face all of them. "Now. Everyone paying attention?"

"Absolutely," the pink-haired Surge agreed, nodding fervently as another man Kim didn't know carefully pulled the dead man back into the prison chamber, and settled him in one of the empty cryo-beds before covering it up.

"All right. Blok," she turned to the young man she remembered from before her nap. "You're the best hope we have of getting out of here. You transform, get to the controls on the far end inside the guards' monitoring post, and switch off the interior defenses so we can all follow you."

"I can do that. But I don't know squat about computers, Red," he called her.

"See this panel," she pointed out as she ignored Shego's groan from beside her.

"Yeah?"

"There should be one just like it on the far end after you get down the hall. On the left side there should be three large buttons. One red. One green. One blue. Press the blue button. Make sure it stays down, too."

"Okay, then what?"

"Then we make sure the defenses are down, and we'll join you."

"You know, I could just take over the whole system," Surge told her.

"You can do that," Kim asked the strange girl.

"Oh, no. Pinky overloads tech and electrical systems, and makes them short out. Usually in spectacularly violent fashion. They probably locked her up because her idea of fun was creating blackouts," Shego warned. "She worked for me and Dr. D. once. Trust me, once was enough."

"Well, we don't want to risk shutting down what is left of the life support with everything else," Kim admitted uneasily, "So we'd better stick with Blok," she said, nodding at the young man.

"I got it, Red," he said, and turned to eye the corridor. "I just hope they didn't find anything that can stop me since we've been sleeping," he said, and Surge gaped as his entire body turned a solid, black granite-textured façade.

He turned, winked at Kim, and stepped outside the hatch.

Multiple lasers started blasting, but they only chipped tiny fragments from his fantastically dense body, and he kept going without slowing down.

"Way to go, big guy," Surge shouted.

"Green button," Kim shouted, seeing him hesitate when he reached the far hatch.

"I thought you said blue," he shouted back in complaint as he stared at the panel without a blue button.

"Only when you get inside. The green button opens the door. The blue shuts down the defenses."

"Right. Green. Then, blue," he echoed with fixed determination.

"Is he that dense all the time?"

Shego and Kim turned to study the young, pink-haired teen.

"He is made out of living stone," Kim reminded her.

"Riiiight," the pink-haired teen nodded as if in complete understanding.

"So, how did they get you, Princess," Shego asked casually as they watched Blok disappear into the next chamber beyond the corridor.

Kim turned to study the woman in the less than flattering white jumpsuit, and tried not to smile as she eyed her while remembering other times.

"Stabbed in the back. Figuratively, and literally," she told her honestly after a moment.

"I know the feeling," Shego told her with a sidelong glance.

"Well, for what it's worth. I am kind of glad you're all right. And, well, that you're here. We couldn't get too far without you just now."

"Hooray for me," Shego huffed irritably, not seeing Kim's expression as she turned away from that biting comment.

"Ladies. Let's remember we're all here together now," Drew suggested.

"What did they do to him," Shego groaned.

"Some minds are more susceptible to outside influences," Kim told her without looking back at her again. "Remember, he has had five centuries to absorb whatever was in his sublims," Kim posited.

"Okay, so how come you and I seem pretty normal?"

"Natural charm," Kim suggested blandly as she looked back at Shego now, managing a smile.

"Yeah, right," Surge sniggered at Kim.

"Okay, and her," Shego asked.

Kim looked around as a thought occurred to her. She went over to the main computer, assessed part of the coding, and almost laughed.

"They shortcutted the programming codes I developed. They only used one frequency. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it was limited."

"Limited," Surge asked.

"Yes," Kim nodded. "By gender. They actually overlooked gender application in the specific codes I discovered. The sublim frequencies they programmed only work effectively on males."

"Then what about the bearded dimwit," Surge huffed, glancing toward the dead man now back in a sleep bed.

"Well, there are always exceptions," Kim suggested.

Shego laughed at that. "So, if you wanted, you could control actually the world? Wow, Kimmie, you're a real evil genius after all."

Kim glared, and then turned back to the passage as Blok, once more in his innocuous human shape, reappeared to shout their way.

"I think I got it, Red," he called.

Kim found an old cup left from someone's long ago visit, and tossed it out into the corridor. Nothing happened.

"Say, Drew. Go make sure the right button was pushed. Would you," Shego asked sweetly.

"Of course, Shego," the blue-skinned felon smiled, and stepped into the corridor without hesitating.

"Shego," Kim gasped, but didn't hide her own cringe when she watched Drew step into the hall, and keep going.

"Okay, time to go," Shego grinned, and led the way behind him.

"That was mean, Shego," Kim hissed at her, still surprised by her tactic. She had always thought she had some kind of feeling for Drew.

"Yeah, but it was funny. And smart. Trust me. Dr. D has always had the uncanny ability to absorb pain and injury, and keep going. Or didn't you ever notice?"

"Well, now that you mention it….."

"Okay, what do we do now," Shego asked when the five men stood around staring toward Kim when they reached the guard station at the far end.

"I think you've got a harem," Amy tittered from beside her.

Kim's expression was beyond eloquent.

Shego just burst into laughter at the comment.

"Okay, let's see how well they followed the rest of my designs," she said, looking around the lit up guard station. "Right. Here we are," she pointed, indicating a small chamber at the far end of the larger room where the cryo-tubes were located.

"How come it doesn't show any more rooms," Drew asked. "Surely this place must be bigger than a few storerooms?"

"Because there are no other rooms. Not here. See this," she pointed to a space on a faint mapping grid. "This is the prison. Two miles southwest from our location is the main moon base according to this chart. We have to get over there to find a way off the moon."

"Uh, Kimmie? How do we get across two miles of open vacuum?"

She forced a smile at Shego, not wanting to admit she was more than concerned herself. Especially with the atmosphere already looking iffy in the small chamber with them up, and moving around once more, and no apparent fresh oxygen being produced by poorly maintained generators.

"There should be space suits somewhere around here. Or an emergency transport. Something."

"In here," one of the men she didn't know called from a storage locker as the men immediately went to snooping around. "Looks like spacesuits in here."

"Hey, there's a bunch of numbered boxes in here," another man pointed out as he came out of what was apparently a supply closet of some kind.

"Numbered boxes," Kim asked.

She left the monitoring post and went into the room, and smiled as she looked around. "Our things, I'm betting," she told Shego. "Do you know the number on your cryo-bed?"

"Bed? You called that thing a…..?"

"Do you?"

"001-A," Shego growled at her impatient scowl.

"Here," she said, and pulled out a box. She opened it for Shego, and inside were a green and black jumpsuit, boots, and gloves. Even her old equipment belt was included.

"Well, don't tell me that old bat was being sentimental?"

"I rather doubt it," Kim told her somberly, and went to find her own number. She pulled out a box that had only a small, slender silver band inside. No other clothing at all.

"Aaahhhhh, too bad, Kimmie. You get stuck with the fashion disaster."

"Actually, I may have found some help. I hope."

"Help," Shego scoffed as she stripped off the jumpsuit to pull on her own distinctive costume. "We've been napping five centuries, and you think that little doodad is going to…..?"

Kim slid the band on, tapped a sliding switch, and then opened the sliding face of the device that chirped softly, and glowed with life in a faint golden shimmer radiating from the innocuous face. "Spankin'," she grinned, and pressed a certain toggle twice.

"So, what does that do? Reset our lives, or what," the green-skinned woman sneered as zipped up her costume, ignoring the others that were pulling on more casual clothing, too, after finding their own things.

"It tells me my car is still online, and the AI just woke up. Jade will come up here and get us if necessary."

"Jade?"

"The AI running my car."

"I remember that car," Blok nodded. "It flies."

"Yes. And it should be able to reach us, too."

"Uh, Kimmie, I doubt it's been fueled up in all this time," Shego couldn't help but laugh. "Not to mention wear and tear on parts has to be murder after all this time."

"Shego, I left my car inside a magnetic envelope for security. And it's powered by plutonium. It doesn't need gas."

"Fascinating," Brute remarked as he rejoined her now wearing a snug, gray bodysuit with a rainbow patch on her left sleeve. The mark of his old gang. "You must be using a fusion generator, and implementing a recycling….."

"Gah! Just tell me how that little car of yours helps us," she asked as Kim helped the others find their boxes, and get dressed in their own clothing. What little there was of it in Surge's case. Her costume was little more than a bikini with a short skirt attached to the bottom. There was even less to the top.

"What? It's stylish," she huffed as Kim gaped at her.

"Need I say more," Shego demanded as she glanced to Kim after having pulled her own costume on.

Kim said nothing as she headed back for the monitor station.

"Okay, so what now," Shego asked as Kim eyed the map a final time, and headed for the storage room to pull out the spacesuits.

They had already scavenged the other supply boxes, but found nothing that really aided them, or would fit Kim, so they went to the airlock, and began inspecting the spacesuits they had found.

"No transport," Kim said glumly, but these suits look like they survived pretty well. We scavenge extra tanks for air, and we should be okay to walk to the main base. Right now, it's our only hope. Because the atmosphere in this place is not going to last long."

"We trust you, Kimberly Anne," Drew assured her.

"Indeed," Brute nodded.

"You've got us this far," Blok agreed.

"Okay. Lets check everyone's suit before we go out. Make sure it's working," she said as she climbed into a heavy environment suit and began sealing it around her.

I've got some extra tanks from these other suits," Shego told her. "I don't see any others, though."

"Probably another security measure," Kim nodded. "Fortunately, we have enough suits for everyone with a few spare tanks. Just remember to breathe evenly, and take it slow," she advised as they suited up, and prepared to leave. "The air has to last us the full two miles."

"I wonder what did happen to the guards. I mean, if they aren't here, does that mean the base may be…..abandoned," Surge murmured.

"I don't know any more than you," Kim admitted as she glanced to a grim-faced Shego. "But right now this plan is our only hope, so let's just focus on getting to the base. One step at a time."

"Okay, Red," Blok nodded, though Shego felt Kim had not really answered that question. She had, in fact, pretty much ducked it. She understood completely.

"Okay, let's try this," Kim said, and pulled her helmet down, locking it in place. She opened a valve, and smelled the stale, but breathable air fill the suit. "I'm good," she said after a moment during which she tested the suit's integrity.

"Shego?"

"It's working," she added after pulling her own helmet on, and starting the air.

"Blok?"

"I'm good," he nodded.

"Sara?"

"It's _Surge_. And I'm breathing, aren't I?"

"Uh, okay. Dr. Drakken?"

"I really do prefer Drew, Kimberly Anne," he told her quietly. "And I believe the suit is working."

"So's mine," Brute told her gruffly, "But this thing is really tight. I hope the seams hold."

"Just don't try stretching," Shego sniggered at the big man.

"I'm cool," the hitherto silent Nolan Roberts, apparently called Hawk told her, though she didn't know why.

"Oh, the air tickles my nose," Amy exclaimed.

Shego rolled her eyes at the woman's antics.

"What about you, stick-boy," Shego asked the last quiet member of their group.

"I'm Henry Sanders, but they called me Janus," the slender man told her. "And I'm fine."

"Never heard of you," Shego huffed, then looked back to Kim. "Okay, we did roll call. Can we go now?"

"Everyone grab a spare tank," Kim reminded them as she picked up a tank for herself. "Don't forget. Stay calm, breathe evenly, and we should be fine."

"We're following you," Drew nodded, apparently the spokesman for the men for whatever reason. Even the bigger Brute seemed to be deferring to him, who in turned deferred to Kim. It was all very surreal to her just then. But not half so surreal as stepping out on the gray, empty expanse before them after she pulled open the hatch.

"Kimmie…."

"Shego, talking will only waste air," she rasped through the suit's transceiver, trying to cover her own anxiety as she stared around them.

"Okay, okay. But….look right, fearless leader, and tell me what's wrong with _that_ picture?"

Kim looked off to one side in that direction indicated, and froze.

"Oh my God," she rasped, staring at the planet that looked nothing like the home that she remembered. And she had been in space a few times, so she knew how it should have looked.

Over two thirds of the planet that looked maddeningly close was wreathed in ice. A thick, white blanket that covered most of the continents, and a good part of the oceans.

"Guess the global warming nerds were right," Shego murmured as they started walking again.

Kim said nothing as she just continued to stare.

Five hundred plus years was bad enough. Waking up and finding your home was now a glorified snowball was even worse. She ran every possible scenario through her mind as they walked through the gray wasteland, the sound of her own breathing deafening in her ears as she tried and failed to comprehend what had happened.

"Kim," Shego asked, sounding uncharacteristically somber just then. "Do you think….anyone is left….?"

She couldn't quite see the woman since their suits were not made for peripheral vision. She could hear the concern in her words, though. As Ron had once told her, and she had long since guessed, Shego wasn't so much bad, as willful. She still had a very decent heart under her tough façade.

"Yeah," she said after a moment. "I can't see even an ice age taking out the entire human race," she told the older woman. "I'm sure someone is still there. We just have to get back, and find them."

They walked on in silence again for what felt like hours, and then Blok suddenly asked, "Does anyone believe in UFOs?" "Unfortunately," Shego began.

"What is it," Kim asked, trying to look around, then saw his thickly gloved hand pointing.

She almost laughed.

"It's Jade! She made it," she all but shouted as the small, purple coupe that should have been scrapped centuries ago appeared over the horizon, and flew in low to land beside her.

"How is this even possible," Surge exclaimed.

"Check the name, Sara," she grinned, unable to help making that old boast as she approached the door. "Jade, do you hear me?"

"….have your frequency now, Kimberly," the AI replied. "Where have you been? My internal chronometer still has my logic circuits overloading."

"Yours and mine. Did you detect any life on your way here?"

"I was in Japan, or what was left of it. Nothing was in that region," the living computer told her. "But I left in a hurry to find you, so I didn't exactly pause to scan the rest of the region."

"Uh, what now," Shego asked. "Because miracle car, or not, Princess, I don't think that thing can carry all of us."

"No, but it can get me to the base faster than walking. You guys keep headed in the right direction," Kim told them as she climbed into the car that adjusted her seat automatically to compensate for her bulky suit. "I'll go see if I can find something to use, and come back and carry all of you over."

"What if you run into trouble," Drew asked her quietly. "Shouldn't you have some backup?"

"I'll be fine. Trust me. Jade is more than a match for anything that might be out here."

"You hope," Shego told her. "Just don't pause to sightsee," she quipped as Kim let the AI handle the driving, and the thrusters lifted the car up off the moon's surface, and quickly sped away.

"She….won't leave us, will she," Surge asked quietly as she watched the car speed away.

"Oh, no," Drew told her as they all started walking again. "One thing you can count on, and that is Kimberly Anne Possible will always do what's right."

"Isn't she the one that froze us," Shego reminded him bitterly.

"True, but she is helping us now, isn't she?"

"You've turned into a regular fan boy, haven't you," Shego grunted in disgust.

"People," Brute cut in. "Remember what Kim said? Talking uses more air, and we don't know exactly how long we have, or how long it will take Miss Possible to return."

Shego wisely said nothing as they all fell silent, and resumed their walk..

_To Be Continued…_


	5. Chapter 5

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**By LJ58**

**5**

"There was a fight here," Jade commented somberly as they neared the sprawling colony that had obviously once been teeming with life.

Once.

Now, dozens of desiccated corpses lay around the shattered dome of the main structure, and broken transports. The twisted wreckage laying around the complex told her what happened with all too much familiarity. Lorwardian war machines lay sprawled around the ruin of the dark moon base, and she felt a shudder as she tried to imagine what it must have been like for the defenders trying to fight for their lives as those soulless machines came after them.

She climbed out of the car, and looked around, and finally found what looked like a convertible bus, and studied the overturned transport that was apparently part of a larger transport before it had been torn apart.

"Jade, can you put this thing back on its wheels?"

"I believe so," the AI responded, and maneuvered to tip the large carrier back onto fat, all-terrain tires that were still viable.

"No power," Kim realized, the conveyance being all seats, but no controls. Most of the cockpit had been sheared off. "But in this gravity, maybe you could pull it?"

"I believe so."

"Then I'll hook you up, and let you go after the others. I need to get inside this place, and find out what can be salvaged if we're going to survive. Or find a way back to Earth."

"That is within my ability, Kimberly," Jade assured her. "As is returning you to Earth."

"Without losing anyone?"

"That...might be more problematic."

"Let's focus on one step at a time. Towing?"

"Easily accomplished."

Good. Let me just find a chain, or something, and….."

Ten minutes later, Kim watched the car lift up just off the ground, pulling the battered but serviceable transport behind it as it flew away. She had already tried the radio in the suit, but the range was next to nothing, and none of the others were hearing her. Which explained why she wasn't hearing them.

Jade let them know she was coming back, though, and Kim relayed her findings through the AI that was literally saving their lives already. She knew the others had to be getting as low on air as she was, and that wasn't good.

Walking into the main dome that was thankfully still mostly whole, she headed for the command and control apex to try to see what, if anything, might still be salvaged. She tried very hard not to look at the bodies laying around her as she entered the dome by the nearest shattered bulkhead.

She didn't even try to think there might be people she knew here. It was too much for her to process just then. All that mattered now was survival. She had eight people depending on her, so she had to get to work. She had to do what she once did on a daily basis.

Pull off the impossible.

Somehow.

**KP**

"Look, there's the base," Amy grinned as the flying car pulled them over the moon's dusty surface with surprising speed for its size. "I see lights, too!"

"That's not all I see," Shego said quietly as they neared the jumbled remnants of the once vital colony that served the local prison.

It was one thing to hear there had been a fight. That things had gone badly. It was another thing entirely to see the broken and maimed bodies of human beings that had been outmatched from the start in an obviously one-sided battle.

"Oh…..snap," Drew murmured as the transport slowed behind Jade before the car stopped near the main dome where Kim had gone. "Are those…..people?"

"Not any more," Surge said quietly, sounding as if she were fighting the urge to be sick.

"Dr. D. Look. I think that wreckage is Lorwardian," Shego swore.

"You mean….? But didn't we beat those guys," he asked anxiously as the Roth settled back to the ground, and they realized they were near one of the main hatches closest to the lit dome.

"They obviously came back," Brute told him just as uneasily.

"Not good," Amy said needlessly as they all climbed out. "Not good at all."

"No," Brute agreed. "It's not."

"….hear me….. I think…..almost….. ….rking," Kim's voice came over their receivers.

"I believe Kimberly wants you all inside," Jade cut in over their suit radios. She has something to tell you."

"That we're all screwed," Surge asked pessimistically.

"It's surely not that bad," Drew reassured her with a weak smile.

Shego was not the only one to roll her eyes.

"Let's get inside, and find out if there is any good news left to this day," she told the others as she led the way, painfully aware of the gauge on her second oxygen tank that was dropping fast.

If the others were watching their gauges, they weren't commenting. It wasn't like complaining would help, though.

"I'm all for good news," Amy agreed.

"You and me both," Surge replied as they climbed out of the makeshift transport.

Fifteen minutes later they found Kim inside the one viable dome, and pulled off their helmets to face her after realizing the redhead already had her own setting on a chair near where she was working.

"Keep your helmets close," she advised them. "The patches I've made so far may not hold."

"So, what now, fearless leader," Shego huffed, looking around the old, creaking gray dome over their heads that was dimly lit at best. Even the air smelled off. She tried not to think of just why. "Because so far, this has been one seriously bad day."

"Well, I have good news, and I have bad news," Kim tried to smile.

They groaned in a collective voice.

"Okay, so much for lightening the mood."

"Just spill it, Princess," Shego spat. "Because you're still obviously not much of a people person."

"I am so," she protested, staring at Shego in disbelief she would say something like that.

"Kimmie, let's face it. You're a gung-ho, control freak who could make the worst of them look like choir boys when you get amped. Only I'd be the last to deny you can get things done. When you get around to it. So skip the details, and just tell us how the hell we get off this rock," Shego spat impatiently.

Kim opened her mouth, but said nothing at first as she saw Shego pull off her helmet, and got a good look at her face just then.

And the worry in her dark eyes.

Shego, she realized for the first time, was genuinely scared.

Obviously out of her depth, and not sure how to proceed, she was retreating into her her usual caustic behavior to hide what was likely a lot of fear. Kim would be the last to deny she wasn't scared, too, but she took shelter in logic, and action.

She forced a smile, and tapped the computer showing an inventory listening before her.

"Here. It's going to take work, but if we can open this storage bay, and prep it, this old shuttle will get us home."

"It's got fuel?"

Kim turned to eye Surge.

"No. No fuel. The systems are going to be iffy, too, admittedly, and will have to be checked out. We'll want to stock it to the gills with whatever provisions, tools, or whatever we think we are going to need, but it does seem to be whole, and in one piece. That's the important thing."

"Stuffing gear in a dead ship helps us how," Shego complained.

"It's an old shuttle design," Kim sighed, shaking her head.

"I understand," Brute said, seizing on her consternation. "It doesn't need power to get us home. It just needs to glide once we make it there. Right?"

"Right. We can charge the batteries easily enough to handle the flight controls, but I'm pretty sure Jade has the power to lift, and tow the ship to Earth."

"Where we just fly down, land, and we're home," Brute said with a confident smile that even Kim wasn't sure if he feigned, or not. "We just need a pilot."

"It's obvious. Shego is our best option to pull this off," Kim said, giving the woman a genuine smile.

Shego wasn't quite so sure, but said nothing as she eyed Kim carefully as if trying to make up her own mind.

The others remained quiet as they absorbed what was being said.

Except for one.

"That's insane," Surge exclaimed in naked fear. "You want us to trust our lives to a death trap we don't even know will fly?"

"You got any other ideas," Kim asked the teen.

"Well….. Why not let that car of your fly us all down in turns?"

"Because, even with all the viable air tanks I've found, I doubt we have enough air to last the time it will take to get us all down," Kim told her. "That was our own first idea, too, but my best calculations have at least four of us dying before we can all get down."

Surge said nothing to that as she just stared at her in horror.

"Want to draw straws?"

Surge glared at Shego. "So, how good a pilot are you," she asked the sardonic woman warily.

"Better than you, Pinky," the green-skinned woman smirked, looking and sounding more confident now. Kim didn't miss that either.

"We have another problem," Drew pointed out just then.

"Yeah? What's that," Shego huffed, still used to ignoring him.

"Kimberly, your radar thingy has something moving not too far away. And it's coming right at us," he pointed out as he gestured at the computer.

"I see it," Jade's computer voice cut in on the speaker just then. "Kimberly, it's one of the alien war machines. It's still active, and it looks like it is headed right for you."

They all shared a troubled look.

"Looks like the green guys left a watchdog," Blok grumbled. "No offense," he added, looking over at Shego.

"None taken. But how do we fight this thing? I can't use plasma out in space. It'd destroy my suit, and kill me instantly before I could throw a punch."

"I'm strong," Brute told them. "But I'm probably not strong enough to take out anything that punched through these walls the way it must have."

"My mutant body could probably handle the vacuum, but I just don't have the strength or power to handle something like what you guys are talking about," Blok admitted.

"I have an idea," Drew smiled as Kim frowned at just how helpless they were just then. Just when it seemed they had had a chance, too.

"That's more than I have," Kim admitted without hesitation. "What is it, Drew?"

"All I need is a fully powered laser, and Surge," he told them. "She amps the power of the plasma beam, and simultaneously hacks and overloads the alien circuitry, and we should theoretically be able to shut the warbot down before it can penetrate our refuge."

Kim frowned as she considered all the unknown variables in that plan.

"Could you do that, Sara?"

"Damn it, it's _Surge_," she hissed at Shego. "And….I don't know. It sounds doable. I mean, that's how my power works, but…..something alien? I don't know. I never tried…."

"Isn't anyone asking why this thing showed up now, when we've been sleeping under its nose all this time without being visited. At least, so far as we know?"

Kim looked at Brute, and nodded, knowing he had a valid question. The man seemed to have a brain behind that obvious brawn, and that impressed her. She didn't know what he had done wrong to end up here, just then brains were obviously going to be an asset.

"It must sense our activity somehow," Kim mused. "IFR, or something like that detects our presence. Energy readings. Something. That must draw it."

"Okay, everyone back into their suits, and let's power down everything for now," Shego suggested. "Maybe that will buy enough time to get Doc's plan in motion."

"I'll find a suitable laser," Drew said, reaching for his own helmet after switching out his last oxygen tank.

"I just know I'm going to regret this," the pink-haired girl frowned as everyone looked at her, but she reached for her own helmet all the same as Kim began shutting down the patched dome's systems manually after only recently repairing and restoring them.

Amy helped change out her tank before doing her own, and they all sealed their suits again. Just as well, Kim realized, noticing the air in the room was still bleeding out once she shut down the main generator, proving there must be a leak Kim had not yet found.

"The alien machine is faltering," Jade told Kim through her radio. "It appears your theory was…. My mistake, it's now coming right at me."

"Shut down, Jade. Shut down, and go dormant now."

"Why not just have it fly away," Shego asked uneasily, knowing the car was their only home just then.

"And risk that alien having some way to follow, or blast her out of the sky?"

"Doy. Didn't think of that one," Shego grimaced.

"We found an extra pack for a blue-laser," Drew radioed back after having led Surge off into the now dark dome. "We're going outside to test it."

"Test it by blowing a hole in whatever is out there," Shego told him. "We may not get a second chance if they spot your test, and take _you_ out."

"Oh. Right," Drew responded. "I see your point."

"She's right, Drew. It's still coming our way. Just more slowly. It's obviously drawn to active tech, so be careful. We don't want to lose either of you."

"Indeed," Brute murmured. "We may be all that's left of the species, and we'll need breeding diversity if we are to….."

"Okay, you. Shut up. And I mean now," Shego said with a look of disgust that needed no interpretation.

Henry was looking more than a bit troubled himself, but there was not much known about him beyond his name. Nolan just stood back, and stayed quiet.

"Sorry if I offended you, Shego," Brute told her. "I was just pointing out the obvious."

"Well….be less obvious. This girl doesn't do boys," she spat irritably.

"Really," Amy tittered. "So all that time you were following Drew around, you never….?"

"Gah," Shego complained. "Why does everything think…. Lady, you want Drewbie, he's all yours. I never…. Never!…. Wanted him. Not like that!"

Kim found herself smiling as Shego ranted.

"Why are you grinning, Possible," she demanded.

"Sorry, Shego. I just find it funny that you just outted yourself to us here like you did."

"Funny….."

Shego made a growling, choking sound as she glared at her, and her eyes radiated energy before she turned around, and obviously started counting.

"I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you. It's just…. I'm gay, too."

Shego turned around, and glowered at her.

"Now I know you're just jerking my leg. You ran around with every pretty boy, and loser out there. You even dated your own buffoon!"

"Yeah, and how did they all end?"

Shego said nothing to that.

"I figured it out near the end. I had lousy luck with guys because….. I wasn't looking for a perfect guy."

"No such thing anyway," Shego muttered sourly.

"There was one," Amy sighed softly, looking thoughtful.

Both women rolled their eyes.

"Well, as I was saying, I was looking for a certain….woman."

"Good luck with that one," Shego huffed, and walked over to the computer. "Hey, Doc, how's it going?"

"We're ready. And….I think in place," Drew's voice said, sounding very anxious. "I can feel the vibrations of the warbot moving through the rocks. I must say, judging by reverberations…."

"Drew, focus," Kim cut him off. "How close are you to to it?"

"Ten meters, and closing fast."

"Really fast," Surge's anxious tone cut in. "I really hope you guys have a backup plan in case this one bites it."

"Yep. Run," Shego retorted.

"Run? That's it," the nearly hysterical girl sputtered.

"Trust me, it's kept me alive for years," Shego chortled.

Kim couldn't help but smirk at that one.

"Three meters," Brute murmured, studying the surface beyond the viewport. "I see it now. It's like….a big bug. A big, metal bug."

"I hate bugs," Shego growled.

**KP**

"It's really quite simple," Drew was telling Sara as he fumbled with the components of the laser weapon taken from a fallen agent.

He knew it was an agent by the uniform, and patches on his spacesuit. Shredded as it was by something with very big hands. He didn't stop to think about that.

He focused on the weapon, and hoped the unused power packs he found had enough of a charge to create the cycling loop he needed for Surge to amp the power.

"Simple," the pink-haired girl tried not to squeak. "No offense, Doc, but nothing about this has been simple since I woke up."

"Please, call me Drew," he smiled, finally slapping the new energy module into the weapon after tying it to the three spares he had found to help increase the chance of a good shot. "Just remember, when I tell you, all you have to do amp the laser while you hack and overload the warbot. I've seen them at work, and they really are fairly simple devices."

"But….they're alien."

"Meh. But they're still simple. Trust me. They use a rotating, nano-modulator for…."

"Doc…. Uh, Drew. Just how do I do this," she cut him off.

"Ignore the appendages. They are little more than clubs. If it's true to type, it will have a small bubble just beneath the main body. Focus there, and the feedback loop should short the entire device."

"You do know I have to touch something to…..affect it," she said uneasily as they stepped into the hatch, and back out onto the moon's surface.

The Roth was setting nearby, now completely dark, but its presence did calm her a degree.

"Yes, well, once it's close enough, I'll draw it's attention when I fire the laser. At the same time, you need to run forward, and grab it, and….do your thing. I am more than confident that our plan cannot fail."

Surge, who had some experience with Drakken's plans, couldn't help but grimace.

"Trust me. Even Kimberly thinks this plan will succeed. The simplest things often do," he declared authoritatively.

"Goody," she rasped.

"Here it comes," he pointed out the gleaming metal shell just visible over the rugged terrain. "We'll take shelter there," he moved his finger. "When it moves to crest that ridge, it'll be in prime position."

"For what," she squeaked.

"Why, for us to exploit its structural instability on a rocky surface. Ready for battle?"

"No," she squeaked.

Drew sighed.

"Well, I can see why you retired."

Surge gave him a dark look, but he was moving forward, expecting her to follow on her own. With little choice, she did.

"Hey, Doc, how's it going," Shego's seemingly indifferent voice came over their transceivers even as they settled down under the cover of the broken ridge.

"We're ready, and….I think we're in place," he said, peering over the edge of the ridge as he gripped the weapon in both hands. He ducked back down as he added, "I can feel the vibrations of the warbot moving through the rocks. I must say, judging by reverberations…."

"Drew, focus," Kim cut him off in a curt command. "How close are you to to it?"

"Ten meters, and closing fast," he said as he peered over the ridge again.

"Really fast," Surge's said uneasily as she peered over the ridge at the big, metal bug, too. "I really hope you guys have a backup plan in case this one bites it."

"Yep. Run," Shego's sardonic retort filled her ears as she ducked back down.

"Run? That's it," she sputtered, wondering if the green woman weren't entirely nuts.

"Trust me, it's kept me alive for years," Shego chortled in her ear.

"She has a point. She always has had a knack for knowing just when and where to run," Drew told her. "I think it's almost here."

Surge shivered as she felt the ground under her thick soles literally shaking now, and swallowed hard.

"Okay, so, amp the gun, and then blast the bug. Right?"

"That's the plan."

"And then run," Surge added, yelping even as a cascade of rock and dust sprayed across their heads as something impacted near the edge of the ridge where they were hiding.

"Well, it's coming up right over us. How convenient," Drew declared as he lifted the laser, and aimed where he speculated his target would soon be appearing.

"Convenient," she squeaked, and almost screamed when a huge, metal limb slammed into the ground just inches from where she stood.

"Now," Drew shouted, and fired straight up at the shadow that towered over them, moving overhead. She threw out both hands, grabbing the laser's dangling power cell in one hand, and slapping a hand against the cold steel of that alien limb with the other.

Even as her body began to glow with power.

**KP**

"It stopped. It's just standing there," Brute reported as they all ran over to the viewport even as a violent, blinding explosion lit the nearby horizon.

"Drew," Shego rasped, trying to make out their companions even as the flash of energy began to fade.

"Drew? Surge? Are you okay," Kim called. "Drew?"

She was almost deafened by Surge's gleeful howl.

"We did it! We did it!"

"We most certainly did," Drew replied far more calmly. "Do control the exuberance, my dear," he said quite calmly, and very unlike himself. "Some of our companions don't really seem to care for emotional displays."

Kim and Shego just stared at one another as Drew's voice filled their ears.

"That….sanctimonious….no-good….."

"Just be glad his plan worked," Kim grinned at the fuming woman, both of them knowing who he was talking about. "Come on back, Drew. We still have oxygen issues, so the faster we get to work, the faster we get home!"

"We're on our way back, Kimberly. Sara did a very fine job, too. I wager we shouldn't have any trouble with these things if they have any others out there left behind."

Kim frowned at that.

"That's good to know," she answered him, but she was still thinking about what he had just said.

"So, what's first," Shego asked her, breaking her train of thought.

"Okay," she said, turning to her, and the others. "I'll get the generators back on, and power up again. Keep your helmets close, though, as we do obviously still have a leak somewhere. Then, we want food, tools, and….weapons. That's on top of anything you think might be of use when we get back. We may only have whatever we find to help us survive, so assess _everything."_

"In short, spread out, and grab whatever you can find," Shego told them. "You, Kimmie, can show me to the shuttle. I'll figure out what we have, and what we need soon enough."

"This way," she told her, and led the way down a back corridor out of the control center as the others scattered.

_To Be Continued….._


	6. Chapter 6

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**By LJ58**

**6**

"Just when I thought we were going to live," Sara yelped, clutching her seat with both hands in a death grip as the shuttle shook violently as the cabin began to overheat as they plunged into the atmosphere of a planet they had not seen in over five hundred years.

Even without sleeping, it had taken them over fourteen long hours just to find and load the gear and equipment they needed to prepare for their journey. Another five hours were spent just getting the hangar open, and the shuttle pulled out, and prepped. Jade, naturally, helped with most of the actual pulling.

They finally managed a few precious hours of much needed rest that Jade monitored so they didn't oversleep, and die of oxygen starvation. Afterward, they then finished charging the batteries scavenged from the lunar base before Kim then rechecked all the leads used to tether the shuttle to the Roth.

It was a tough, and very tense moment when Kim put her plan into motion that required a rolling takeoff to give the tiny, if powerful car the momentum necessary to pull the big shuttle off the ground, and into the air.

She and Drew had gone over the calculations constantly. It had still been very close before they left the moon behind, and were suddenly airborne. Or rather, space-borne.

They had cheered, though, and they all looked forward to reaching home as Kim piloted the Roth toward the icy planet even as they all anticipated their arrival as Shego kept a grim watch on the controls she manipulated, keeping the mostly dead weight of the shuttle level, and in line with the car as best she could as they flew home.

A tense thirty-plus hour flight later, and they felt the first jolt of the atmosphere as they approached the planet, startling Surge from a nap as she looked up, and saw what seemed to be the ship on fire through brightly lit windows.

"We're burning up," she screeched, fumbling for her helmet again.

"It's reentry, moron. Of course it's burning! We should be good, though," Shego retorted, trying not to sound worried herself just then.

"Yeah," Blok, AKA Bill Taylor grunted from behind her pilot's seat. "The brick always survives the landing after smashing through glass."

"Not….helping," a surprisingly pale Brute, now known to them as Zander Washington rasped, his own big hands clutching his seat, his eyes closed in obvious prayer.

"Just….hold on," Shego spat, fighting the sluggish control. "We've already done the hard part."

_"This_ is easy," Amy sputtered, looking more annoyed than worried just then.

Drew only smiled, and stared around him as he watched the controls from his co-pilot's seat.

"Shego, this is Kim. Ready to disconnect?"

"More than ready. We need to get the nose down, and now!"

"Understood. Firing explosive bolts in three. Two. One."

"Done," Shego said as something like dull thuds slammed under the belly of the ship. "Better get out of the way, Princess. You know I don't have any brakes," she quipped.

"I'll pace you."

"Yeah, because you'll be so helpful if the hydraulics blow," she complained, eyeing the small car bank to her port side, leaving the sky empty before them.

"At least the weather is relatively clear, and you seem to be on course. We should have a smooth glide plane all the way down if our calculations are still holding," Kim reminded her.

"I believe we have them right on the mark, Kimberly Anne," Drew replied. "We should be setting down somewhere in the Midwest as planned."

"That's the plan," Kim agreed. "How's everyone holding up?"

Drew glanced back at the pale, anxious faces behind him.

"Everyone is quite happy, and ready to get back home," he reported.

"Talk about denial," Surge hissed.

Brute didn't say a word. His eyes remained tightly closed.

"Turbulence," Shego shouted a moment later when they seemed to turn sharply, and she again had to fight the stick. "The air may be clear, but it's not _still!"_

"Hold on," Drew said needlessly, and continued to monitor his station. "Shego, it looks like we're now four degrees south of our initial glide path. That will put us…."

"Later," Shego growled, tugging hard on the stick, feeling something sickeningly like a shearing pin as the stick froze in place.

"Shego," he asked.

"No, no, no," she chanted. "Not now," she said, and used more of her superhuman strength to overpower the locking mechanism that was threatening to freeze the flaps.

"Shego, what is it?"

"Kim, you copy," she radioed.

"I'm right here," the redhead's voice came over instantly.

"I might have a little problem," she grunted, tugging hard on the stick, and assessing what play she had left.

"Hydraulics," she asked anxiously.

"No. No. I think they're good," Shego said quickly, hearing someone gasp behind them.

"What is it, Shego? How can I help?"

"I have to set down now. I'm losing the yoke. I think we have a bad linkage we overlooked, and it's trying to go. If it does…"

"Understood," Kim said. "Give me five seconds to run something by Jade," she said. "I may have an idea."

"Right now, anything would be nice," she admitted as she heard Surge whimper audibly now.

She was right behind her seat, too, and would have overheard every word.

There was a long, tense silence as the shuttle plunged downward toward the ground still far below, and then the radio crackled again.

"Got it," Kim told her. "Every play with a slingshot," she told Shego.

"Just spit it out, Kimmie," Shego hissed, trying not to snap off the control stick in her powerful hands as she fought the decaying flight path.

"Grouch," Kim huffed. "Drop your nose forty degrees, and hold it steady for…..two minutes. At the mark, pull up, and you should be low enough to glide down using your own weight and inertia without losing any control even if the stick freezes, or snaps."

"That's a big gamble," she realized.

"Fighting it all the way down is a lot bigger if you're sure about those linkages."

"I am," she said after a moment. "Okay, forty degree drop….now."

The passengers didn't fail to shriek when they all felt the sudden lurch forward.

"This is going to negatively impact our intended landing site," Drew said, his first hint of anxiety showing in his dark eyes.

"Doc, I don't think it really matters that much just now," she hissed, and aimed the shuttle at the ground.

"Thirty seconds," Kim called over the radio all too soon to those listening. Then, "Fifteen. Ten. Five. Now, Shego. Pull up."

Shego yelled as she balanced fighting the stick with trying not to just snap it off in her hands. The nose shook violently again, more than ever, but slowly the icy plain below began to vanish under the nose as the shuttle leveled off.

"There's a smooth surface two degrees starboard if you can turn," Kim called out. "Put it down there, Shego," Kim ordered.

She turned easily enough, the hydraulics ironically working smoothly. A moment later, though, she had another issue.

"No gear," she complained as she worked the switch. "Batteries don't have enough juice left to lower it. Or something else jammed. Whatever, I've got to put it on its belly," she told Kim.

"Understood," Kim said after a moment, her single reply somber. "I know you can handle it, Shego. Just….do your best."

"Everyone….hang on," she said, and nudged the stick one last time.

She swore as she felt the tail slam into the icy ground below her, and the entire shuttle felt as if it almost flipped. They bounced once. Twice. Then they were down, and sliding across the icy surface now visible again beyond the nose as their momentum carried them across the relatively smooth, icy plain.

For a moment it seemed they might be sliding across the rough, but fairly flat ice, and then a red light began to flash as something showed on the radar.

"We're headed right for those cliffs," Amy shrieked even as a familiar shape flew in front of them, and Shego gaped as the goofy redhead stationed her tiny toy car in front of the massive ship that was sliding across the ice right for the edge of a very long drop according to their radar.

"Shego, if you hear me, I'm going to try to slow, and turn you. Hang on," she called over their radio even as the Roth banked, and powerful thrusters angled the car down just over the ice directly in their path.

"Turn us? With that," Amy squeaked as the small car hovered before them, and now started closing the distance toward them as the jagged edge of the cliffs they could make out just ahead grew ever closer.

Then the sliding ship shuddered and jerked, and they lost sight of the cliffs as the ship actually began to slowly turn to one side. The shuttle still kept sliding, but sideways now as it turned on its axis. Shego couldn't see the Roth any longer, but she felt the jerks and shudders as something obviously kept pushing at them, and she realized, "We're slowing! I think she's doing it!"

Surge, clinging to her own seat just behind Shego's, only stared with huge eyes as Shego said, "Well, I hope she does, because it'd be a real bitch to come all this way to die by falling off a stupid cliff."

Another shudder, and a hard jolt, and the ship seemed to spin half around again, and then they felt something slam into them just before they went completely still.

Shego drew a long breath, letting it out before she dared grin.

"I think we're….."

"You guys all okay," Kim asked over the radio, sounding breathless herself.

"You tell us," Shego said as Surge and Amy just stared.

The icy foothills beyond the ship were still now, and Shego couldn't stop grinning.

"Well, you've stopped," Kim reported. "But, trust me, you want to use the starboard hatch. If you come out the port side, you've got a really _long_ first step."

"As long as we on the ground, I'm fine," Surge blurted out, and tugged at her seatbelt. "Now, let me out of here!"

She stepped out of the shuttle, helmet in hand a moment later, and then turned around to duck back inside. "C-Cold," she shivered violently, and pushed back onto the ship. "Let me back in there."

They couldn't help but laugh at the pink-haired girl's antics as the Roth flew around the nose of the ship, and settled to the ground nearby. Kim climbed out, pulling off her own helmet only then, and grinned up at them. "Welcome home, guys," she grinned. "I told you we'd make it."

"Never doubted you for a second," Shego told her, ignoring the snow and ice around them as she stepped out of the shuttle, and jumped to the ground.

"Right," Drew drawled knowingly, following her down.

"Hey, two or three minutes there, sure. But not for a second," Shego grinned, and just spun around as she looked around.

"Where are we," Amy asked as she joined them, moving more carefully in the thick snow and ice.

"Believe it or not, we're somewhere near what used to be Dallas," Kim told her. "The glacial movements have really changed a lot of topography. But we're near the edge of the current southern glacial field, so if there are going to be survivors in North America, they'll likely be along this boundary."

"You really think there are still survivors?"

Kim glanced over at Bill, AKA Blok, and nodded. "Aliens, and killer frost aside, I don't think we'd go down that easily. I'm sure someone still survived. We just have to….."

"Look at that," Drew gasped, and they turned at the snap of a frozen branch, and saw a huge elk bounding away from then near a stand of dead trees they had just missed plowing under.

"So there is life still here," Amy smiled hugely. "Kimberly is right. We just have to find it."

"It might find us if anyone saw us coming down," Brute suggested as they all came down now. Even a very obviously shivering Surge.

"Considering what we left on the moon," Drew pointed out. "It might behoove us to prepare in case what we find is not necessarily friendly."

"Valid point," Kim nodded. "Drew. Get to work making us some portable communications devices out of the suit radios. We'll need them if we're going to do any exploring. For now, we'll use the ship as our base, and set up a camp here."

"And what about the weapons," Shego asked.

"I'll use what we scavenged, and see if I can make us something to defend ourselves that has a little more punch than those old tasers that we found," Kim told Surge. "Drew needs to focus on those radios."

"We'd better scout around, and check the lay of the land, too," Shego suggested. "We don't want to be taken by surprise the way we were up there," she said, glancing up at the hazy film across the sky that hid the moon or sun from them just then.

"Jade can help stand watch," Kim reminded her. "But she's not exactly outfitted for offense if anything shows up."

"Maybe we need to change that, too," Shego asked suggestively.

"I agree with the chromatically challenged woman," Jade stated before Kim could reply.

"Hey," Shego huffed.

"I'll give it thought," Kim agreed. "For now, let's dig in, get settled, and start making us a new home. Agreed?"

"Here comes the control freak," Shego muttered.

"Shego," Kim sputtered.

Which only made everyone laugh.

It was the sound of relief, and no small amount of hope.

_To Be Continued….._


	7. Chapter 7

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**LJ58**

**7**

Shego dropped the armload of wood she had gathered near the growing stack, and eyed the bench near the open hatch of the shuttle that was their primary shelter even though Bill and Henry were working on setting up a sizeable tent they used some of the scavenged Mylar and canvas to craft.

"Where's Kimmie now?"

"Off doing some kind of sonar readings again," Drew told her as he came out of the shuttle just then.

They had been working on setting up a camp around the shuttle for just over six days now, and while it was a mess, they were finding fish in a nearby river, and plenty of game around, too, to augment their stores.

Even water wasn't an issue, because the ice, and even the river, were found remarkably clear and pristine considering the state of the world just a few centuries ago.

"Still hunting buried treasure," she snorted, knowing Kim felt the icepack had to have buried a lot of the old cities left behind, and that it might have also preserved things they could use if they only found those potential storehouses waiting to be had.

Zander, as Brute now favored being called, had the sole axe found in the lunar stores to cut up the wood she dragged into manageable size, and said nothing as the two fell back into a familiar give-and-take in their conversations. The difference, however, was more obvious to Shego.

Drew was now far more polite. Far more reasonable. He was, at times, an entirely different man. Even his work with the electronics was coming along without a hitch. He was sure he'd have adequate radios for all of them in very little time now that he was able to work with the electronics he had scavenged from their spacesuits.

Then again, all of the guys, even the quiet ones, were all very polite, and respectful. Some of their personality still came through, as with Drew at times. But none of them seemed to be overly concerned about who was, or wasn't in charge. Or even what they were getting out of their current arrangement. They even took to whatever chores were assigned without a single argument.

In short, it was unreal.

Even Amy got grouchy at times when they had to do certain tasks. Pinky was just Pinky, at least to her mind. The teenager was a kid yet to even grow up. Even if she was all of nineteen. Give or take a few centuries.

Kim, though, was obviously still Kim.

If anything, she seemed to work harder, pushing herself to do more and more, as if she were somehow trying to still prove herself.

Sure, they had to stick together to survive now, but she wasn't sure if Kim weren't angling to be the de facto leader in the end. The question was, did Shego even care any more? Everything that once made life worth living was long gone. Cash meant nothing. No one cared about the old concerns when you really just needed wood for fires, or food to cook. Still, she knew exactly why she had hated roughing it so much back in their own day.

And she was seriously over squatting in the snow over a ditch.

She was going to suggest someone make some kind of bathroom beyond that tiny cubicle on the shuttle when she came back to find Kim gone.

Again.

"Terrific," she sighed, dusting her gloved hands as she looked around. "I thought we were going to brainstorm on our long-term agenda today. How are we going to do that if…..?"

The shrill whine of the familiar turbines announced the Roth's return even as Shego complained. She looked up to see the small, purple coupe fly over the camp before landing near the tail of the downed shuttle they were now gutting for anything of value as they worked on a permanent shelter away from the ice pack so they were subject to the shifting ice as much as staying atop it. Still, they needed immediate shelter, too, along with the other usual survival needs, and that left a lot of work for everyone in the extreme temperatures.

While their spacesuits helped by insulating them from the weather short-term, they were too bulky for some work, and they were relying on scavenged GJ jumpsuits from the lunar base aside from Shego, whose comet-power and costume remained her mainstays.

"Looks like she's back," Zander remarked blandly, the big man saying nothing more as she stomped off toward the settling car.

She shot him a quelling look, but like the rest of the smiling morons around her, he didn't seem to care.

Ignoring him, she tromped through the path cut into the ice and snow by now, and reached the Roth even as Kim was climbing out of the Roth now wrapped in a worn, but furred coat she knew she did not have when she left.

"Where did you get that," she exclaimed as she eyed the woman wearing the GJ jumpsuit she had found near her size, and the old coat, rather than her spacesuit she had been wearing earlier.

"I found a broken skyscraper still close enough to the surface to still be accessible. I didn't find any food, or other essentials, but I did scavenge a few clothes from some of the apartments I was able to reach, and get into without risking getting trapped. But it proves what I hoped. We can find provisions if we are smart, and careful."

Shego stood and stared at the grinning redhead, her ire slowly rising.

"You mean to say you went into some crumbling building, under a ton of snow, just to look around? And you didn't even have backup?"

"I had Jade," she huffed, looking confused at Shego's burst of temper.

"Are you insane, Kimmie," Shego thundered. "If you buy it, we're screwed here. None of us is as capable of handling what's ahead out there as you are! I don't camp. I don't do cookouts. And I damn sure don't know what we're supposed to do next in this frozen snowball that replaced our home," she complained. "You cannot keep taking these chances! You need to remember that people are depending on you. Relying on you. And we can't keep wondering where you went to, or if you're even coming back," she said as she wound up more and more, her voice getting louder with every word.

Kim just stood there, and stared.

"Well," Shego finally demanded when she fell silent.

Kim glanced away, then looked back at her.

"Shego, I'm sorry. I didn't think it was that big a deal. I mean, you're as tough and smart as I am, so if it came to it…."

"Oh, no. No, no, no. Don't even go there," she fumed.

"Well, I didn't mean to make you worry," she said quietly, turning back to reach into the back of the car.

"I wasn't worried," Shego grumbled. "I was….thinking about the others. They need you."

Kim just nodded, and handed her a small bundle made of a stiff, yellow pillowcase.

"What is….?"

"I found some soap, and some other salvable stuff in one of the apartments I could reach. I thought you and the guys might like to try it out."

Shego took the bundle, and stared at her.

"You….brought soap?"

"Some kind of perfume, too. A few brushes and combs, and even some shampoo I didn't think looked too iffy. Once it completely defrosts."

Shego stared at her hard as she held the small bundle without opening it.

"Maybe tomorrow, a couple of us could go back, and try exploring more of the tower. Maybe get in a little deeper. You're right. I should have had backup, but….I was just so excited about finding the tower in the first place," she told Shego with a faint smile.

"Well…. I guess I can't blame you. But you have to think more practically now, Princess," she told her, looking to where Drew was staring her way from the hatch. "These guys really seem to look your way now. For everything. If we lost you….."

"I'm not going anywhere," Kim told her, and then looked up as a shadow fell over them.

"Holy crap," Shego howled, still not used to the Hawk, as Nolan called himself.

It turned out the unassuming man could literally sprout wings, and fly under his own power. He had used his gifts to burgle some very high places belonging to some very elite sorts who were less than fond of his gifts. They wanted him grounded. Betty had him frozen.

"I finished scouting to the south," he grinned, his visage red and flushed from his flight in spite of the goggles he wore to protect his eyes.

He wore his own clothes which had strategically placed slits that allowed his wings to protrude when they grew out from his body. The first time Shego had seen his shoulder blades elongate, and stretch out as they began growing, she had almost passed out.

It was a beyond eerie sight.

He adjusted his jacket, and shoved his hands into his pockets, still grinning.

"What did you see?"

"Smoke. I saw smoke, Kim," he grinned hugely. "I couldn't get close enough due to the time limit you put on me, and the fact there were some _killer_ thermal drops around the foothills where the ice cliffs drop off near there. But I saw smoke, and I don't think it was from a natural fire."

"Where," she asked, Shego looking more than interested, too.

He pointed as Kim's eyes lit up.

"Maybe six….maybe seven kilometers southwest of us are some low hills near where the ice cliffs recede. I think there are people living in those hills, Kim. I think I may have found survivors," he beamed. "Because that was no wild fire. Not here."

"Good job," she grinned. "I found a skyscraper a few miles north of here, too. I got inside, but didn't go too far. Didn't want to risk a cave-in while I was in there on my own," she said, glancing toward Shego.

"I wondered where you got the spiffy coat. Find anything else of use?'

"Some old clothes. Apparently the cold preserved some of the hardier cloth and denim. I brought back some for us to check over for sizes. Or maybe even use after we manage to alter it. I also found some soap, and stuff. Nothing else for now. But if we can find something…. I don't know, a storehouse, or something….. We might be still able to get some real tools and equipment, too. At least, that's what I'm hoping."

"Cool. So, what's for chow," he grinned. "I burn up some ferocious calories when I fly. Especially in these temperatures," he said, and stomped over toward the half erected tent Bill and Henry almost had set up by now as they used the frame to keep working on it until they had a decent amount of sturdy canvas sewn to the Mylar they were using to insulate it.

"Still got some of that fish stew simmering," Bill told them, having heard Nolan when he was talking.

"Where's Sara," Kim asked. "I found a coat that should fit her, too," she said, pulling another bundle out of the back of the car. This one made of stacked clothing tied together.

"Pinky? I think she went to try working on the irrigation ditch we've been working on. It's her hope to get a ditch finished to carry water to camp, instead of having to keep going back and forth for water," Henry told her.

"Well, that is smart. Still, Shego made a valid point," Kim said, surprising her. "Until we're sure what we're facing here, we had better start going out in pairs just to ensure no one….gets in over their head."

Amy looked up from where she was cutting up bits of meat from a recent kill for spitting as she said, "I think I mentioned that, too. But you just keep running off on your own. All of you. Honestly, it's not like we're still in the world we know. We don't even know what kind of mean old predators might still be out there," the geneticist waved around them.

Kim looked somber now.

"That's right. We've found elk, rabbit, and few deer, but there's bound to be….something else out there. We had all better start thinking a bit more ahead," she said as she frowned toward Shego who said nothing.

"We better get those weapons working soon," Shego finally told her, eyeing the others. "Some of these guys will may need them."

Kim got the message. She had been supposed to be working on the weapons while Drew worked on the radios, but she had been trying to explore their immediate vicinity with Jade while the weather was good, and with her range, it made it faster, and easier for her to do the sonar scans herself.

"I'll stay up late tonight, and work on a few," Kim assured her.

"I'm almost finished with the radios, Kimberly. I can assist you if you need…."

"You finish the radios. Now. Yo, skinny," she shouted at Henry. "Go hurry up Pinky. She's been gone a while. Go make sure she didn't trip over an ice cube, or something."

"Shego," Kim sputtered. "That's mean."

"We both know that girl is as clumsy as they come. How anyone mistook her for a criminal genius is beyond me."

"She's young."

"So were we," Shego reminded her curtly.

"Henry," Kim sighed, catching the man's eye as he looked up from his work. "If you don't mind, would you go check on her?"

"Shego is right, Kimbelry," Amy told her. "She has been gone a while. She should have been back by now."

"How long has she been gone," Kim asked, old instincts rising to the fore even as Henry started to put aside his tools he was using with Bill, who while slow as Block, was still a very methodical worker once given a task.

Zander walked over to stand with them, and said, "I'd say about two, not quite three hours, Kimberly," the big man informed her. "I was about to suggest someone check on her myself."

"I'm going," Kim told them. "Everyone else…."

"I'm going, too," Shego told her. "The rest of these guys can finish working on that tent, and get the food and fire ready. We're the two best suited for any trouble out there."

"Agreed. Jade, stay here, and set up a watch. Standby defensive perimeters as of now."

"Understood, Kim, but shouldn't I….."

"It may be nothing, but if someone, or something is trying to lure us away, I need you here to contact me if something comes up. If we run into trouble, Shego and I can handle it. If not, I can always call you."

"I'll be waiting," the AI informed her.

"Not going to 'suit' up," Shego asked, nothing Kim only pulled on the spacesuit's heavy gloves, and nothing else.

"I'd better not. If we have to move fast, it would only be in the way. Hopefully, this coat will be enough," she said, and nodded at her. "We'd better take a canteen, though."

"I don't suppose any of your gizmos are ready?"

Kim grimaced.

"Of course not. I swear, Princess, you need to reset your priorities. Like yesterday."

Kim glared at her, but just when she opened her mouth, she gave a low mutter, and turned away.

"What's that," Shego demanded as they both headed toward the path where Pinky should have followed.

"Nothing," Kim growled over her shoulder. "Let's just go find Sara."

"You mean Pinky."

"You're being perverse."

"You're being an….."

"Do you think those two will ever get a clue," Zander asked blandly as they walked off arguing.

"I rather doubt it. They're both very stubborn," Amy informed him with a faint smirk.

"I remember," Bill agreed. "Red actually tried fighting me hand-to-hand in my rock form the first time we met."

"Who won," Henry asked.

"She did," the young man sighed.

"Whoa," Nolan muttered. "Makes me glad we never met now. I mean, you know, until now."

**KP**

Sara Roberts was cold, hungry, and feeling very, very far out of her league here.

She never wanted to be a bad guy. Girl. Whatever.

She wanted an ordinary life. Okay, maybe she could win the lottery, or something. Who doesn't want a little extra cash? She never expected to get turned into a freak, and led astray by those she should have been able to trust. She certainly never expected to be tossed in a freezer, and woke up centuries after everyone she knew or cared about was long gone.

She certainly never expected to have to end up carrying heavy, makeshift buckets of water to refill the supply back at the shuttle where they still slept in their spacesuits to stay warm while the guys worked on some kind of shelter she just didn't think was going to be much use in this climate. Somehow, the paper-thin Mylar didn't seem that great to her, even if they were backing it with some heavy canvas.

She trudged through the snow, wishing that the sun, just once, might peak out of those perennially gray skies, and show itself today. She paused, sweating in spite of her chill, and heard something not far away.

She froze, knowing she was supposed to be alone out here.

Except maybe for some kind of wildlife.

Or alien war machines she pessimistically was sure were right around the next corner.

So far, they had not seen any of them, but that meant nothing. Earth was much bigger than the moon, and likely settlements, if there were any people left, likely much more scattered. She stood listening, and almost gasped when she thought she heard laughter. Real laughter.

Like a child's.

She put the makeshift yoke down that held the makeshift buckets, and made her way in that direction as quickly as possible. Too bad she didn't have one of those radios the blue guy was supposed to be making, but she didn't dare lose this chance to find out if there were really people out here. Besides, all she could think about just then was real civilization. Real food. Real comforts. Real warmth.

She stumbled through the thick snow off the worn path, and almost fell more than once since she was using her spacesuit boots to get through the day without frostbite. She just wished the oversized GJ jumpsuit was a little warmer.

She yelped as she suddenly skidded, and slid for several feet when she hit a short slope, and ended up sliding face-first down the incline. She came up sputtering, colder than ever as she heard more laughter. All but right next to her, she looked up to see a small child wrapped in deerskin and fur, staring right at her as she held a small waterskin of some kind of hide she was filling.

The girl's face was bronzed, round, and open as she smiled at her.

Then something grabbed her arm, jerked her up out of the snow, and she turned to see who had grabbed her.

That was when she started screaming.

_To Be Continued…_


	8. Chapter 8

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**LJ58**

**8**

Kim paused just near the turn toward the narrow creek they used for water that was fed by a larger, deeper river that flowed farther away from their landing point.

"Did you hear…..?"

"That sounded like Pinky," Shego nodded, and looked in the same direction Kim had looked when the faint sound reached their ears.

"What do you think," Shego was asked. "Should I call for Jade now, or do we go on?"

Shego eyed her, then looked off into the distance again as if she could see through the mostly dead, sticklike trees that still jutted up like a ghostly forest around them.

"Just the one screech," she murmured. "She might have just fallen. Or startled herself. If she was in real trouble….."

"Still, we should go find out."

"We do it slow, and quiet for now," Shego told her. "We go blazing in now, and we might spring some kind of trap."

"Paranoid much?"

"The last time I got too cocky," Shego growled, glaring at her. "Someone stuck me in an ice box."

Kim said nothing at first, but then she eyed the green-skinned woman, and told her, "I can't say I'm sorry you ended up here. Because I'm not."

"Why am I not surprised," Shego muttered sourly as they both moved on with as much grace as the thick snow would allow.

"Shego….. I am sorry about how things ended," Kim finally told her after a thoughtful pause. "Still, you say these people rely on me? Well, they wouldn't even be alive without you here."

"Me? I haven't done a….."

"No? Without you, they might have ignored waking me at all. Without you, I never could have jumpstarted the holding station's auxiliary systems. Without you, we never could have piloted that shuttle down, or if we managed to get here, we likely would have crashed before we ever got it down. Shego," Kim told her earnestly as she eyed the woman, "Without you, we might all be dead a dozen times over already."

Shego said nothing to that.

"Well," Kim asked.

"They still all look to you. Why's that?"

"Who knows? Maybe it's because they subconsciously recall I was always on the right side from the start, and I represent authority to them? I can't really say."

"If you were so righteous, how did you get stuck in there with us," Shego huffed.

"The usual way. I snubbed Betty, and she didn't take it well."

"I always knew she was a bitch. Didn't realize she was so….."

"She is. Was."

"Well," Shego muttered. "Guess we really showed her. She's history, and we're both still alive and kicking."

"So far," Kim agreed, and reached the point where Sara's water buckets set discarded in the snow.

"She turned off the path here," Shego pointed.

"Yeah," Kim agreed even as they both looked around, seeing nothing. "But why?"

"Only one way to find out," Shego told her, and went on ahead.

**KP**

Sara shouted for help, but no one was listening.

Worse, no one was coming.

The big, burly man in furs finally just dropped a hard fist across her jaw, and sent her into oblivion as he dragged her farther and farther from camp. Or help. She didn't know how long she was out, but when she woke, she remembered her gran's old adage about being careful what you wished for far too late.

She stared around a very sooty cave, one filled with men, women, and children in the same deerskins and furs, and realized she had just found the survivors. Only they weren't quite the sort they had been hoping to find.

Worse, she woke to find herself naked except for a very thin, deerskin dress someone had dragged onto her slender body. Everything else was gone. Even her gloves.

She rose from the thick pallet even as a big man with a long, dirty beard walked into the cavern, and eyed her. She started to back away as the man came toward her, pointing back at the pallet.

"No," she shook her head. "No way, ugly."

The man might not understand her, but he understood enough. She yelped as his calloused palm sent her head spinning, and her jaw throbbing again as he growled out what was likely a warning as he raised his hand again.

Sara whimpered, cowering back against the wall, and wishing she was tougher. Sure, she could overamp his neural-chemical functions with her power, but even she didn't like what that did to ordinary humans. It was why she had tried to retire. For all the good that had done.

She looked around for help, but saw no one even looking their way. Not long, and not with any interest. It all seemed business as usual for these people who worked on more hides, or the rough spears and bows they all carried. Nothing more. Nothing advanced.

Then the man simply reached out, grabbed her pink hair, and dragged her back to the pallet to throw her down.

"No, no, no," she cried as he immediately knelt over her.

Over five hundred years of virginity and a preference for her own gender meant nothing to this primitive as he dropped atop her, and she screamed in earnest this time.

Fortunately, the man finished in what seemed seconds, though part of her felt as if an eternity had passed as the brute savaged her body. He just grunted at her, and walked away, snatching up a spear before leaving the cave again.

She was still crying when the women now came over and made her stand, one of then encouraging her to part her trembling thighs to exhibit her violated sex that still dripped blood and seed from her swollen lips. Cold and fear had her ready to collapse, but one of the older men stepped forward, and draped a furred cloak over her shoulders, pulling her into his thickly muscled arms as he turned to her departing rapist, and grunted something in that guttural babble they used.

The man didn't even look back as he walked out without comment.

An even older man came forward, looking almost skin and bone compared to most of the burly gorillas around her, and held out a braided leather cord with a dangling fang of some kind attached. He tied the thing around her throat, and she whimpered as the man boldly touched one breast by thrusting his hand under her cloak, and then cupped her dripping Mons to sniff it, and even taste his dirty fingers.

He turned, holding up his hand, and shouted something incomprehensible.

It made every man, woman, and child around them, now at least thirty of them as far as she could tell, shout gleefully.

Then the man holding her led her across the large cavern that was all but hidden by the snowy cliffs, and the scattering of rocky rubble that looked as if it came from a landslide. Even as she was led deeper into the cavern that grew gradually warmer as she realized a large pit in a central chamber was filled with a huge bonfire the younger children kept burning, she realized they weren't staying in the main cave. The man led her toward a smaller chamber off to one side, and guided her toward a thick pallet of furs.

Putting aside the short, heavy spear he carried, he pointed, and told her something in his tongue.

She shied from him, clutching the cloak around her body as she backed toward the far wall.

"Mahk lee," he pointed at the pallet, taking pains to slow his speech, and enunciate whatever he was trying to say. "Mmmaaaahhhhkk llllleeeee," he told her.

She glanced at that pallet, at his swollen hide breeches, and only had bad visions of what he wanted. Instead, he turned and left her alone.

She slowly shook her head, and stayed pressed against the wall even after the old man left. Why couldn't these apes have grabbed Shego? Or even Possible? Those two would have made mincemeat out of these guys by now. They certainly wouldn't have gotten raped. She shook her head more violently as the woman that had followed her snorted her impatience and frustration, just grabbed her pink hair, and threw her to the pallet.

She landed flat on her back, gasping in pain from the careless handling, and then left. She came back with a bucket of very cold water, and a worn, hide cloth. She then began to scrub her down with callous indifference. Sara couldn't help but shiver, and cry. Things, she felt, could not get much worse just then.

**KP**

Kim and Shego walked boldly toward the large, partially masked cavern where it looked like something had clawed at the rocky slope, pulling down a partial landslide. They had tracked the footprints of at least three adults, and two smaller bodies here, but none of the tracks matched Sara's that had vanished halfway down the slope.

Just eight kilometers from the camp, close to where Nolan had said he had seen smoke, they found the cavern where an obvious settlement of blatantly primitive humans were living.

It was simultaneously enheartening to see other human beings, and more than a little disappointing to see them devolved into virtual primitives.

"Better take off that coat if you have to move fast," Shego murmured as she paced Kim, noting the men outside the cavern mouth were snatching up spears, and crude clubs, and eyeing them a very unfriendly manner.

Kim pulled off the jacket without comment, not liking the looks some of those men were giving them.

"What kind of welcome is this," the redhead fumed as she noted one man was even notching a bow as he eyed them. Shego especially.

One of the women outside with the men made some kind of exclamation at seeing the pair who were very unlike any of them so far as the two women could tell.

"Not the friendly kind," Shego said unnecessarily as one of the men stepped forward to confront them when they kept coming after Kim dropped her fur-lined coat in the snow as she approached, carefully flexing and assessing her readiness even as the other men moved to form a rough circle around them now.

"I'm thinking….duh," Kim huffed as the apparent leader, a burly man with a ratty, black beard came right up to her, and boldly reached for the jumpsuit she wore.

For a moment, she thought he meant to assess the material. Something harmless. Instead, he grabbed the collar, and tried to tear it open. Kim intercepted the hand, knocked it away, and just missed being clouted on the side of the head by that thick spear he was holding.

The man fell back, gave a shout, and every man there lifted their weapons.

She put up her hands, trying to offer a peaceful gesture, and had to duck a thrown spear.

"Shego?"

"Yeah," the green-skinned woman growled as they stood back to back surrounded by fourteen of the biggest, meanest men they had ever seen.

"Take 'em down," Kim growled as Shego heard the telltale crackle of her onetime rival's battle armor activating.

"With pleasure," the former thief smiled coldly as she raised her hands, and let the plasma energies flow freely as the men gaped at the women in stunned disbelief.

One had just erupted in green flame that did not burn her.

The other who had just somehow let pristine cloth that was not fur or hide cover her torn clothing by summoning it from out of the very air.

They howled in fear and incredulity, and then raised their weapons to shout what sounded like threats.

Both women understood that language very clearly.

**KP**

Sara was feeling less than empowered as she heard the shrieks and screams from outside, and dared creep out of the small cavern where the bastard that raped her almost constantly had sequestered her. She found it telling that no one was shouting at her, or forcing her back into that cold cave as she heard even more screams, and moved closer to the main exit as she realized most of the women and children were cowering in the entrance, looking genuinely fearful at whatever was outside.

Then she saw a man literally flying through the air, and slamming into a rock wall near her, and leapt aside as she realized the man had gashes literally seared into his bearded flesh across one side of his cheek.

Sara yelped in glee, and ignoring the potential punishment, raced outside to see Kim Possible and Shego dropping the last of the burly men with a combination punch and kick that sent the man to the ground with such force even she cringed.

"Shego," she cried out, starting to run outside, but being pulled back by one of the older women who babbled anxiously at her.

"Shego! Kim," she screamed as the woman tried to drag her back inside.

Both women turned to eye the struggling native, and realized instantly who it was by the shock of bright, pink hair.

"Sara," Kim predictably called her.

"Pinky," came Shego's trademark drawl.

"What happened to you," Kim asked, the woman behind Surge letting her go as Kim walked over toward them, and Sara fighting in earnest by now as she staggered forward, clutching the dirty cloak around her mostly naked body as she rushed into Shego's arms wanting only escape just then. "We've been looking for you for hours."

"I heard laughing, and then I saw a young girl, and then…. Well, I met these guys," she grimaced. "Only when they found me….."

"Let me guess. Tarzan and Jane time," Shego drawled, stroking her tangled, pink hair.

"More like caveman and Jane," she whimpered, almost crying in relief.

"Are you all right," Kim asked her quietly as the women and children around them stared in utter silence at the strangers who had just defeated every man in their tribe without even picking up a weapon.

"Looks like Brute….or rather Zander was right again," Shego said, turning to eye the round-eyed women studying them as if fearing they were next to be attacked. "Five hundred years has changed the people we knew."

"Yeah, but….something's wrong, Shego," Kim protested. "Five centuries, and people became little more than primitives again? Man's history shows we were progressing over time, not reverting. Even an ice age shouldn't have accounted for this kind of intellectual, or cultural loss. Something's wrong here."

"Whatever it is, I suggest we study later, and leave now," Shego huffed.

"I agree," Sara almost whined.

It was so unlike the brash, daring teen that both women stared at her, and shared a sympathetic glance.

"Jeez, Pinky. Why didn't you just zap the losers?"

"I couldn't do _that_ to…..people," she complained. "And they are still people," she protested.

"Teh anjaa! Teh anjaa," a younger blonde cried just then when they started to turn away.

Kim looked back, but only briefly. She walked over to scoop up her jacket, and said, "Let's just go. We can figure this out later," she decided. "We need to go. It's going to be dark soon anyway."

"Kim, wait," Sara stopped her. She turned back herself, staring at the ten year old who looked terrified at Shego and Kim.

"What is it?"

Sara answered Shego without looking back. "In the short time I've been here, I've put a few words together. Wa'at is water."

"Wa'at," one of the older women frowned at her.

"Mi'iak," she said, ignoring her as she approached the blonde child a woman moved to hug, looking fearfully on the three women now. "Is food, or eat, or something like that, I guess. But I have noticed they really, _really_ hate making noise. A lot."

"They're afraid of something?"

"Something they call anjaar," she nodded, trying to pronounce the word as she knelt before the blonde. "I think there is something out there that scares them enough that it might be dangerous to us, too. It might help if we take care of it ourselves, before…..whatever it is comes hunting us."

"Hunting?"

"Two hours ago, I heard something when one of the men went out, and he didn't come back. They called it that anjaar thing then, too, when everyone set around the fire and didn't say a word above a whisper until you guys showed."

"An animal," Shego suggested.

"Look at these guys," Kim gestured at the still fallen, unconscious men. "Even with those crude spears, I'm guessing they're more than a match for most animals out here. Whatever they're afraid of, it must be…."

"Alien," Shego asked quietly. "You think something got let behind down here, too?"

"Did you really think that thing on the moon was the only guard left behind?"

"Damn. I really hate it when you're logical, Princess," Shego complained.

"Anjaar," Sara asked the girl now, pointing. "Where? Where anjar," she asked as she pointed in various directions.

The girl just shuttered, and the woman kneeling beside her reached out to Sara without touching her. "Meh jou anjaa," the woman with lank, sandy hair told her, and rose to walk into the cave.

"I think she wants to show us something," Kim guessed.

"All right. Let's take a look. But then we're history," Shego huffed, keeping an eye on the nearest man that was starting to groan, and stir restlessly.

The three women followed the other woman, her apparent child close to her side, and they noticed that all the women and children seemed to be forming a circle around them. "Watch yourself, Shego. This might be a…..trick," Kim murmured even as the sandy-haired woman pointed at a charcoal painting on the wall near one side of the main chamber, and stated fearfully, "Oda anjaa," as she genuinely shuddered.

"Kimmie," Shego murmured, staring at the oblong shape balanced on three long, spider-like limbs.

"Yeah?"

"Have I told you that I _really_ hate it when you're right?"

"It does look Lorwardian, doesn't it," she asked Shego as Surge eyed the image very similar to the first Lorwardian warbots that invaded Earth so long ago.

"If it's technological, I can stomp it," Sara said quietly, staring uneasily at the image. "Even that thing on the moon couldn't handle me and Drak…. Uh, Drew's combo."

"Maybe. But could you do it in time to stop it if it attacks these people? And what if there are more than one of them. I can't see someone like those not so jolly green giants playing fair, and leaving just _one_ guard at the gate."

"No," Kim agreed with Shego. "They'd definitely stack the deck."

"So, what do we do," Sara asked. "I hate what these guys did to me, but we can't let some alien machine stomp out what might be the last people on the planet besides us. Besides, there are kids here."

"I think I get it," Kim snapped her fingers as the women stared at them as they conferred.

"Get what," Shego frowned.

"Technology. That thing on the moon didn't show up to threaten us until we revived the moon base's primary systems, and started using technology. Working on computers, and turning things on brought it right to us."

"Wanna bet the schmuck that got grabbed was trying something new, and likely dangerous," Shego asked her with a nod of understanding.

"They're keeping humans from progressing again. That's why they're so primitive. Technology must be taboo, and any of those….guards must keep anyone from relearning anything that would help them stop the alien machines."

"So, what do we do," Sara asked. "Because it's a sure bet those things are watching any large groups like this one. And that means they'll probably be headed…"

"Right for our ship," Kim and Shego both finished as one for her.

"What do we do," Shego asked Kim. "You seem to be the brains in this outfit. So…..?"

"I'm calling Jade," she said even as she pressed a stud on her battle armor's control band. I have to get back fast, and warn the others. Meanwhile, do what you can to either shore up defenses here until we can join you, or arrange to get you back safely."

"Back _safely_," Shego hissed.

"Think, Shego. We might be with the only surviving humans in this region. We can't lose them. And if I'm right, we may be able to communicate once I consult with Jade."

"Oh, well, that's good. Because I don't have a clue as to how we're going to help these monkeys that want to bash in our brains," she hissed as she gestured to where the nearly sixteen men now stood just behind them, all holding their clubs, bows, and spears, and looking warily at the strange women without approaching them.

"I have an idea," Sara told her as she saw the old man she guessed was some kind of leader step forward alone after a moment.

She stepped forward, too, and then pointed to the wall.

"Anjaar," she said, indicating the tripod. Then she pointed at Kim and Shego, and slammed one fist into her palm.

"I get it," Shego grinned. "Anjaar, _poof_," she said, and slammed a fist into her own palm that exploded with green flame for added affect.

"Pof," the big man frowned. "Teh anjaa pof?"

"Uh, guys," Sara frowned in confusion as the man suddenly knelt, and flung himself forward on his face.

"Pof!" he bellowed. "Pof! Pof! Pof!"

"Anyone wanna take bets on what that means," Shego grimaced at Kim.

"No clue. But let's milk it for the moment," she told her as every member of the tribe fell on their face chanting, 'Pof!'

"You know this is how cults start," Shego complained.

"Kim, whatever you do, be quick. I think this thing must come anytime anyone is doing anything 'new,' so it's a sure thing they might be coming to investigate today's happenings." Sara shuddered, "And if they come at night…."

"Likely using IFR to add to the mystique," Shego snorted. "That's how those first ones worked."

"Possibly," Kim nodded. "I'll be as quick as I can. And Drew is really going to have to get those radios working soon if we're going to be splitting up like this," she added as she walked carefully through the prostrate men who let them go outside.

"You just get us some guns," Sara quipped as they all headed for the exit. "Big guns."

Shego and Kim walked out first, followed closely by Sara, and they all heard the shrill whine of turbojets not too far away as the primitives that followed them outside shrank back again. A moment later the small, two-door coupe was landing before them, and the men and women were gaping in awe as the vehicle settled to the ground, and Kim jumped inside after the door opened by itself.

"Jade, has Drew finished a working radio?"

"Almost, Kimberly, but not yet."

"I'm afraid of that. I'll have to go back to warn them," she told Shego. "Do what you can. We'll be back as fast as possible. With weapons," she promised.

"What if they go after _you_ first?"

"I'm betting they'll likely still follow the largest population group. That's still here," Kim told her. "So be ready. I'll see what we have in available weapons, and get back as soon as possible. Sara? Do you want to come….?"

"I'll…..I'll stay," she said somberly, but looked glued to Shego's side all the same. "Shego...might need help," she said, eyeing the younger children watching her with wide eyes.

Every man there gasped as the Roth rose into the air, banked sharply, and flew away at high speed, leaving Shego to stand with Sara looking after her.

"Okay, Pinky. Let's see what we have to work with," Shego said, turning to face the men and women that still shrank back from her.

Apparently, Shego mused smugly, common sense had not completely died out.

"They don't really have anything but rocks and sticks," Surge told her morosely.

"Yeah, but they have got muscle," she said, and eyed the men carefully. "Hopefully, they even have some brains left, too," she added as she wondered how to figure out how to get them to realize she needed some of the larger boulders moved to start building a wall around their cave opening.

_To Be Continued…._


	9. Chapter 9

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**LJ58**

**9**

"We have a problem," Kim said the moment she landed. "And we need to move now."

"What's going on," Drew asked, coming out to join the others already with her.

"The Lorwardians definitely left something out there. We found some….primitive humans where Hawk spotted smoke. They took Sara. She's okay," she added quickly. "Shego stayed with her, and the humans to help them defend their cave just in case. We have to get something going to help them survive, though, or we're facing extinction here. Drew, radios?"

"I have five of them ready now," he told her with a smile. "Almost six."

"Hawk, take two to Shego now."

"I still can't fly through those thermals," he began.

"Jade will carry you. Just don't touch anything in the car," she advised him. "Drew, you and I need to get started working on those weapons I was upgrading now."

"Right," the blue-skinned man said as he turned, and walked back into the shuttle without hesitation, returning with three radio transceivers that looked like ear sets for a cellular phone. "One for you, too," he told Nolan.

"What about the rest of us," Amy asked.

"The rest of you need to get us ready if those things attack here. Get everything critical locked inside the shuttle for now, and be ready to run if necessary."

"Run," Brute frowned.

"If they could tear through the moon base, the shuttle won't stop them. But if there is nothing active, or in plain view, I'm hoping they might leave it alone if you run away," Kim told him.

"I get it," Henry agreed.

"Bill, you'll be on main watch, and help guard our backs if anything shows. Amy, inventory, and prepare emergency packs for us in case we do have to move fast, or stay away very long. The rest of you guys, break down our camp, and get ready to move, too. Drew and I will get on those weapons. Go, Nolan. We need to stay in touch with Shego just in case. Oh, and, Henry, is there anything you can do to help? Anything we don't know about you that might….be useful," she asked him pointedly now.

The young man had made it a point to say nothing of his past, or his crimes, and they had not pushed him. He worked, worked hard, and never complained. He just favored not volunteering anything about his past since they had woke up. As he was a stranger to everyone, no one else knew what he could do either.

"I doubt it," he sighed, looking genuinely embarrassed.

"Surely you did something bad enough to get frozen," Bill quipped. "'Fess up, Henry. What's your secret? You know all ours," he pointed out.

Henry sighed, then actually blushed.

"I…. Well, that is…. I am a shape shifter."

"Really? What can you do," Amy asked. "Animals? Cuddly ones?"

Kim resisted the urge to sigh.

"No. No animals. I only have a certain shape I can take."

"And it is," Blok asked with a grin. "Like me?"

"Not….quite," Henry blushed, then blurted out, "I can turn into a female. Any female, but just that."

"That's it," Zander asked as Nolan frowned at him. "And they locked you up for that?"

"I…..replaced the Vice President in 2025, and tried to have them shut down the Sander's Act," he blushed again. "Needless to say, I got caught."

"Sander's Act," Kim frowned.

"Oh, that was after you were….apparently killed," Zander told Kim. "The U.N. put out a genetic purity act that allowed GJ to pick up anyone with suspect abilities for testing, and assessment. A lot of people vanished after that one was passed."

"I can't believe Betty would go so far," she frowned.

"Well, she was having a lot of trouble after Stoppable went public against her. For a while, a lot of folks thought GJ was going to declare war on Japan. Something kept them from actually doing more than threatening them, though."

"I can bet," Kim murmured, thinking of Ron's mystic powers.

Which, she recalled, would have been really handy just now.

Shaking her head, she stared at Henry, and said, "Just do what you can, Henry. All right?"

"Of course, Kimberly," he nodded. "For the record, they called me Janus. I think they just had issues with calling me Henry considering….what I could do."

"So, you can really turn into a female? Any female?"

"Yes," Henry sighed as Bill grinned at him.

"Cool."

"Actually, it's kind of a pain. I burn some major calories shifting, and trying to stay in form. It's easier to just….be myself."

Kim left them to their musings as she joined Drew, and walked over to the science station where she was putting together a few surviving laser rifles with pieces from the tasers they had scavenged. With luck, she could create a stable weapon that could help penetrate the Lordwardian armor without it needing Surge's help to function.

Time to find out.

"Let's get to work, Drew. Shego was right, I really should have been working on these sooner."

"I don't discount your efforts to date, Kimberly," Drew told her placidly. "I'm sure you have our best interests in mind, after all. By the way, what were you looking for out there? Because even I suspect it was more than just a Smarty-Mart warehouse," he smiled more like himself for one of the few times of late.

"We're in the heart of Texas," she told her as they went to work on the power packs they were recharging after she redesigned them. "Or what used to be Texas. Somewhere out there used to be a Global Justice storehouse where they put a lot of very serious tech. The kind that might just help us save the world. Maybe even prevent this nightmare."

"Hmmmm. You know, before they froze me, I recall someone attacked a holding in Texas. Rumor through the Henchco ranks was that Dr. Director moved everything to a special vault under MSC."

"MSC," Kim's eyes lit up.

Drew nodded.

"The Middleton Science Center. Apparently, they had built a special vault for all the scavenged alien technology they had gathered at the time, and GJ conscripted it for their confiscated technology. Or so the rumors went."

"I know exactly where it is. If it's still there," she told him with a grin. "We could reach it. We could use it to rebuild our world. Certainly help us defend it."

"That's a given. Might I ask what you really want to find, though?"

"I'll let you know….if I find it. I'd rather not offer false hope."

"Say, were you thinking along the lines of a weather machine," he smiled.

"Actually, that might be nice just now, too," she admitted with a faint chortle as they worked. "But, no, I was thinking of something completely different. A weather machine would be nice, though."

"Indeed," Drew agreed, his dark eyes lit with a passion she had not seen in some time. "I would very much love to feel the sun again."

"I would imagine a great many of us would," Kim agreed, and finally snapped the last flange in place before she held up power-pack. "Time to test it."

She dropped the connectors into the testing rack, and the panel lit up green across the band.

"One hundred percent power charge. Let's get the rest assembled, Drew. The clock is ticking."

"For a change," he agreed, and quickly fell into a rhythm of his own as they managed to power five of the laser rifles, and four of the smaller, but now amped taser-emitters that might just be able to deliver a suitably devastating charge.

Hopefully, it would be enough.

**KP**

"Here comes Kim," Sara shouted, seeing the car.

"False alarm," Shego grumbled, seeing the bird boy climb out of the car.

"Nice to see you, too, Greenbean," she was told.

"Call me that again, and you'll be barbeque."

"Kim wouldn't like that. Besides, I brought presents," he said, and held up the transceivers."

"No weapons," Sara asked.

"Kim and Drew are working on those while the guys are getting our place ready if we have to bail. Drew said you can get maybe twenty miles range out of these things even if there isn't a functioning satellite in the area," Nolan told her as he handed both women the devices. "I have to get back now. Anything you need to have me say in case the hardware doesn't work?"

"Hold on," she said, and Shego put the device into her ear after switching it on. "Hey, Kimmie, you hear me?"

"Loud, and clear," crackled in her ear a few seconds later. "Is everything okay there?"

"I've got the missing links building walls. Hopefully, if, or when something shows, it'll be enough to slow them down. But I started thinking…. What if doing this building is enough to bring those things running our way?"

"Just hang on, and I'll be there soon. We've got three functional lasers with enough juice to punch a few holes in even those warbots. Send Nolan back with Jade, and I'll send them over now. If I don't bring them with me, because we'll have more ready by the time they do return."

"Just keep at it. I have the unnerving feeling that we're going to need a lot more than a few lasers before this over," Shego radioed back.

"Unfortunately, so do I. And something Drew said gave me an idea. Once we are sure that the people here are safe, we need to take a field trip."

"Field trip," Shego sputtered, staring at the low wall slowly starting to rise as the men got the idea, and even some of the women started helping out by bringing, or rolling smaller stones.

"I'll explain later. Nolan, are you listening?"

"Sure, Kim," Nolan answered at once, proving he was listening.

"Get back here now. Whatever else, Shego is going to need backup. So get back here."

"On my way," he said, nodding to Shego, and heading back to climb into the car that the men gave a wary glance at, but did not approach.

If anything, Shego would have bet the look they had for the car was one of fear. As if it were somehow tied to their angaar things out there.

"Kimmie," Shego radioed as Nolan rose into the air in the Roth, and she watched him take off in a burst of speed even his wings couldn't manage.

"Yes, Shego," Kim answered.

"Good job. You, and Drew. Just keep it up. Now, I'd better get back to work," she told her, not bothering to explain she was using her plasma to cut some of the larger stones near the landslide into manageable pieces that would fit their growing wall.

It was a feat that made the men eye her with awe, and a great deal of respect.

"Back at you," Kim said after a moment. "Just keep your eyes open out there. We have no idea where those things will come from, and while Jade is keeping her sensors on, we're still half-blind without reliable satellite backup."

"I figured. That's why Pinky is on guard duty while we do the heavy lifting."

"She's doing okay?"

"So far," Shego remarked, glancing at the girl.

"Gotcha," Kim said. "I'll be in touch, but yell if you need something. Or see something. I'll keep the frequency open through Jade."

"Right. Later, Princess."

She almost heard the redhead sigh over the link before it fell silent, and for some reason, that made her smile.

Turning, she looked up at the sloping ridge near the cavern entrance, and shouted up at her, "See anything?"

"Nothing yet," she said. "Hopefully it stays that way."

"Catch," she said, going over to throw up the transceiver. "You know how to use it?"

"I've seen them before now," the teen huffed, and put the device in her ear. "How are the weapons coming?"

"Kimmie says she has some ready to ship out as soon as bird boy gets back to ferry them over."

"Good," Sara murmured, and kept her eyes on the area beyond their small quarry. She had seen those things in the first invasion, and knew what they could do. Seeing that ravaged moon base only added to her fear if they caught them by surprise. No way was she letting something like that sneak up on her.

Nothing was going to sneak up on her again. Nothing, and no one.

**KP**

"All right, I've got five functional lasers, and one potential EMP grenade that might work. Or might not," Kim told them even as she heard the turbines of the Roth approaching.

"You have a plan to go with those," Amy asked her blandly, but her dark eyes were lit with a bit of concern.

"Yes. One that involves us splitting up for now. Amy, you're the best hunter we have, so I want you to oversee setting up our defenses here, and hold on as long as you can while we see to the primitives' defenses. Drew, Nolan," he told the man just climbing out of the car, "You'll come with me, and help out on that front. The rest of you guys help Amy finish packing away our shuttle, and then prepare to blaze if necessary. Either way, I'm taking a field trip in a few days that might…. I stress might….. Be very important to our immediate futures."

"Really," Amy cooed. "Well, let's get on with it. I'm up for anything just now. Frankly, just sitting around is already getting awfully dull, Kimberly," she smiled.

Which really said a lot about the woman, Kim realized. Not that the same couldn't be said for her, or especially Shego.

"Right. Drew, let's divide the weapons, and go. I'm taking two of the lasers, and the EMP grenade. I don't want you relying on a possible dud. You'll have three lasers with full power packs, and Block's strength to rely on, but don't confront these things unless you have no choice. Go for evasion, and call for help if necessary."

"We'll figure out a strategy," Zander assured her.

She nodded at the tall, young man who was quite intelligent himself.

"Amy. Guys," she told them as Drew loaded up the Roth, and climbed inside with Nolan. "Be careful. Whatever the past, I don't want to lose any of you."

"We'd rather not go anywhere either," Amy assured her, and waved her off. "Tah, now. Don't forget to write."

Kim tried not to roll her eyes as she climbed into the Roth, and nodded at Drew who had taken the passenger seat, cradling a rifle in his blue hands.

"Ready?"

"Oh, yes. I do believe we are," Drew smiled confidently.

Kim didn't reply to that as she lifted off once more, and aimed the car for the cavern where the others waited.

**KP**

"Looks like Kimmie guessed right. Again," Shego grunted as she heaved a sizeable stone toward the limb of an advancing warbot.

The first of five from what she could see. Technically six.

Pinky had no more seen the first advancing machine, than another had appeared. Then another. And even as she scrambled down from her vantage point, and a fourth had climbed down the very face of the cliff itself. It ended up a smoldering ruin when the teen grabbed the nearest limb, and poured everything she had into the machine.

It spasmed, and fell, shattering on impact. Especially since Shego ensured it stayed down with a well-placed plasma punch. It also made the pink-haired teen feel a bit more confident when some of the men's awe now fixed on her. Her self-esteem had been suffering since she had been grabbed, and... Since she had been grabbed, refusing to think of anything else just then.

Especially with five more warbots that were coming right at them now, and Kim was nowhere to be seen. The men were close to panic, but took courage in Shego's stand, and flung stones down from their hiding places even as the alien sentries shrugged them off, and kept coming.

"We should have kept some of the bigger rocks to throw."

"We didn't exactly have time to build a catapult, Pinky," Shego scowled. "So the big ones were best used on the wall. It's our last defense."

"When you say last…."

"Well, neither of us can do much until they get close. Then it's a fifty-fifty deal."

"There's always running," Pinky suggested.

Shego glowered.

"Yeah, Princess would love us bolting on her new pets. For all we know, this is it. The end of our species."

The pink-haired teen shuddered as she eyed one of the burly men who howled an incomprehensible threat, and flung down a boulder almost as big as her.

"Ick," she grimaced, thinking of these people as their future.

"Crap, here comes another one," Shego swore, seeing the next machine just coming out over the horizon, adding a full five to their number again. "Looks like Kimmie was definitely right about them going for numbers first."

"For all we know, they already attacked the shuttle, and everyone….."

"No," Shego hissed, and launched a ball of plasma to distract the bot about to spear a hapless caveman who had gotten too close to the nearest bot. "We can't think that way. If I know Kim, she's already….."

Even as Shego considered how to handle that nearest alien machine, a blinding, ruby beam arched down, and sliced into the rear of the warbot, cutting the control node right from the housing. The bot lurched, one limb twitching, and it began to wander in aimless circles even as the Roth banked, and came in low, and Kim took a rolling dive from the car even as another laser blasted a second machine.

"Looks like we showed just in time," Kim said, coming up holding up two small, taser-emitters.

"That's all you have," Shego complained as the men gaped at her, and the foundering bot that Pinky took advantage of to rush over, and overload its damaged systems, effectively shutting it down, too.

"They're fully charged with upgraded beams," Kim grinned, and tossed one to Sara. "Use your talent, Surge," she called her. "And let's put these things in the scrap yard."

The teenager eyed the device she had just caught, and grinned.

"With pleasure," she said, and took aim at the next nearest warbot even as the ruby fire from the Roth now put down a second bot.

"Let's see what these things have got," she grinned, and the taser began to glow ominously in her hands before it fired a bright blue beam that nearly bisected the entire warbot before her. Right before the device fell apart in sparking fragments.

"Sorry," she grimaced, but feeling very good as the men gaped at her now in genuine fear. "Got carried away."

"That's why I brought two," Kim told her, tossing her the second taser. "Try not to break that one. Shego, I already told the guys. That last one is ours. Can you remove it's legs, and leave the housing intact?"

"Leave it…..?"

"We need that tech. It may be invaluable. Especially if I can reprogram it," she told her.

Shego grinned even as the pair in the Roth cut down another warbot, leaving only two machines lumbering toward the defensive wall as the men now just watched as Kim and Shego charged the second of the machines even as Sara fired on the other.

The machine's port legs were neatly sliced away, and left it falling over to land upside down, it's remaining limb flailing uselessly as she shouted, "Hey, Kim, is that what you wanted?"

"Spankin'," Kim flashed her a thumb's up. "Now, go back and hold the wall, just in case!"

"So, we can break the last one, too," Shego asked, eyeing the advancing metal behemoth warily as Pinky ran back to rejoin the other defenders as the Roth hovered just overhead.

Even she remembered how hard these things were to put down. Even at full burn.

"Two actually increases our odds. Ready?"

"Fine. Fine. What's the plan?"

You take out that node, while I tangle it's limbs," she said, and activated her battle suit for only the second time. "Let's do it."

"Fine. Fine. Why do it the easy way," she grumbled, and waited for the redhead to fire the inevitable grapple she used to wind around the three, massive limbs, using artificially induced strength to pull the line tight even as Shego leapt up to use the nearly joined supports to bounce her way up to the artificial brain guiding the oversized killing machine.

She didn't go for finesse this time.

Once she was in range, she simply used her plasma-heated claws to slice the programming node into metal confetti, and the entire machine stiffened, shuddered, and fell over like a clockwork soldier that had just wound down.

She jumped free, rolling to land near Kim on her feet once more, and smirked, "Good enough?"

"That," Kim smiled at her, "Was perfect. Now we have work to do. Drew, get down here. I need you."

"You need….Drew," Shego gaped at her.

Kim only smiled.

_To Be Continued…_


	10. Chapter 10

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**LJ58**

**10**

"So, that's my plan, guys. Anyone see anything wrong?"

"Far be it from me to comment on your sanity, Possible," Shego muttered.

"Now, Shego, you have to admit that Kimberly Anne does have a rather remarkable track record in pulling off the incredible. Why, if you only consider…."

"Zip it, momma's boy," the green-skinned woman growled as they gathered around the Roth as the primitive men moved warily around them, poking at the stilled monsters, and gaping incredulously at the newcomers.

Now and then, they would hear someone mutter, "Pof," in such reverence that it made Shego cringe.

"Hey, I say go for it. I mean, any chance we have at actually changing this ice cube has be better than standing here, and freezing our butts off," Sara told them, sounding like herself after a long quiet spell.

"Right," Kim nodded at her. "Drew and I can work on the bots, and get the parts we need well enough to make what we need. We will have to scavenge some parts from the shuttle, too, as well as move our own primary camp here. Shego, that's where you, and the guys come in. It's better to have everyone here, close, just in case anyway. So, Jade can carry you over, but you'll have to get back on your own," she told them, "Since I want Jade to start the global mapping we need to have finished immediately. I need Nolan here for another job, too," she said, eyeing the man standing back with a laser rifle in his hands, eyeing the burly men uneasily.

"We can manage a little hike," Shego muttered, glancing around them at the obviously curious men and women who still seemed to eye them in more than a little awe. "I just don't get why it's so important we get you more toys to tinker with, when we have so many other issues…."

Kim eyed Drew, and then nodded.

"Shego, we may have a lead on where GJ stashed a whole lot of serious tech. Maybe even…weather machines. That kind of stuff. As well as a few things I think we can use to make sure we can manage rebuilding with far more ease than we've had so far."

Shego frowned, and eyed the pair of them.

"Let me get this straight. This whole time you two have been confabbing, you both decided to pin our hopes on…..some antiquated weather machine?"

"Among other things. I think it's worth a shot," Kim told her.

"So do I, Shego. In fact, it's quite possible, no pun intended, there is even more down there than we realize as yet. Why, the Science Center could well prove to be a cornucopia of technological marvels that might just make things far easier for us all in the future. Surely you can see….?"

"Jeez. Even when you sound reasonable, you rant," she complained. "Fine. Fine. Whatever you need, just point, and we'll do it. Like I said, you do seem to be angling to be the new king…. That is, _queen_ of the world. Sure you weren't moving over to our side all along," Shego asked less than teasingly.

"Shego," Kim muttered in complaint.

"Fine. Fine. We'll go. It's not like we have anything else to do. Right, Pinky?"

"So, if there is a weather machine? If you can make it run? Does that mean…..?"

"Well, we won't affect an overnight climate change, in spite of the obvious wishful thinking," Drew pointed out for Sara. "The chaos brought about by such traumatic change would be less than beneficial…."

"He means it will still take time to warm things up," Shego cut him off. "Why you science types have to overcomplicate everything," she muttered, and glared at Kim. "So, we going now, or what?"

"Yes. And be careful. There's still a chance there might yet be a few more warbots out there. Let's not stop watching our backs just yet," Kim pointed out.

"Doy," Shego muttered, and climbed into the front seat, staring at the dash before her. "How do you even turn this tinker toy on," she complained as Sara grinned at her as Shego just stared at the controls.

"Ask nicely," Jade's surprisingly lifelike tone growled as the AI responded on cue.

"Remember, keep your communications open, and if you see anything we need to know…."

"Nag, nag, nag," she cut Kim off. "You do know I've been doing this kind of thing longer than you," she demanded of the redhead.

"Just be careful, Shego. I don't want to lose anyone we don't have to in this nightmare."

"I'll keep an eye on her," Sara assured her teasingly.

Shego's snort was eloquent as she slammed the door even as the turbines began to whine, and the car rose straight into the air.

"That is so cool," Nolan grinned, standing with Kim and Sara as they stood watching the car fly away. "Almost as much fun as flying on your own."

"I can only imagine," she told the lean, young man. "You do understand what I want?"

"Sure. You want me to fly out, and do an overview of the immediate area so we can figure out if anything else is out there coming our way."

"Fly circles, Hawk," she told him. "Gradually increasingly ones. No unnecessary chances, though. And stay in contact. If you see anything dangerous, report back, and get out of there. Take no chances."

"I'm not actually a risk taker," he assured her.

"Says the man that defies gravity with only his own unlikely mutation," Drew grimaced. "Frankly, I'll take a fusion-powered jet engine any day of the week over a pair of a dubious wings that might fade if your caloric balance falls too low."

"I know my limits, Doc," Nolan told him. "Don't worry about me. If I get too close to my threshold, I know when to come down."

"Good," Kim told her. "Because that warning goes for your own limitations. You get too tired, too cold, or too….anything, you come back at once. As of now, we're moving in with our….friends."

"I hope they don't expect us to live like they do," the young man grimaced. "Frankly, I was hoping to improve our standard of living, not….."

"I am hoping we can improve theirs," Kim told him. "Now, work. We still have a lot to do. Radio on?"

He touched the transceiver even as he hunched over slightly, his wings stretching out, and growing from his back even as the men and women around him shouted in dismay as he nodded at Kim.

"Good to go, Boss."

"Just call me Kim," she sighed as he flapped twice, and lifted from the ground.

"Whatever you say, Kim. You're the boss," Nolan winked, and rose into the air before she could retort.

"Looks like some of the original personality does remain even after five centuries of rehabilitation sublims. I wonder how the others are doing?"

"I'm sure they are doing fine," Kim was told by the now ever reasonable Drew, which made her wonder about his true personality even more of late.

"Right. Well, worrying won't help. Let's get to work," she said in a determined, and turned to address the men around her in the broken language they employed that Jade had quickly deciphered as a mishmash of old English and Spanglish that had been badly mangled in their melding.

Still, she was able to figure out enough to tell the men what she wanted, and set them to work scavenging the broken metal limbs, or other parts she needed, even as others continued to build up their defensive walls. She would work on better housing later.

**KP**

Shego was considering all that Kim was doing since their return to Earth, and she had to wonder if the woman wasn't going to burn herself out before she quit.

She might tease, or irritate her, but the truth was, she could see Kim was concerned with reclaiming a world that had been stolen from all of them. Even as Jade flew off the moment they climbed out, the others came out of the forest, Amy reporting that a warbot had passed by, but seemed to keep going when they hid in the trees, and showed no signs of overt hostile activity. The machine didn't even explore the old shuttle since they had pointedly turned off every system in the ship to ensure it didn't draw any attention.

She quickly filled the others in on Kim's plans to shift their camp to the caves, and set up a defensive front there in case of more attacks. She also shared that the redhead had some idea of finding, and raiding some kind of hidden cache of tech she and Drew had a lead on, and that meant some of them might be left behind there when they moved, which meant they had to ensure the site was well defended before Kim, and whatever party she led departed.

In short, they all had a lot more work to do now as they got ready to do whatever they were going to do.

"So, Kimberly has a definite plan now," Amy asked after hearing everything.

"Sounds like it. I get the feeling she's still holding quite a bit back, but…. Yeah, she does seem to have an idea of some kind in that head of hers," Shego imparted.

"Well, I have learned you cannot ever predict what that girl might do, so why resist," Amy beamed. "Besides, watching might be fun."

"Fun," Shego smirked. "Weren't you the one that always called her a meanie?"

"Oh, well she was, wasn't she? Always butting in, stopping me, or anyone else from having our fun? Only now she's on our side, right? So we should do what we can to help, and maybe in the end, we all get what we want? After all, when we first woke up, I was pretty sure we were all going to die up there," she said casually. "Only when our Kimmie woke up, I knew we were going to be fine. That young woman just doesn't know how to give up."

"No. She doesn't, does she," Shego murmured, not quite sure she disliked the way Amy so carelessly called Kimmie 'ours.'

"Isn't that a good thing," Henry asked. "I mean, from all I've heard, we have the best chance of success with us now. So, isn't that a good thing?"

Shego didn't reply to that.

"Let's just get those tools and things she wants, and get going. Trust me, it's a long hike off this iceberg to get where we are going."

"How long?"

Shego eyed Amy.

"At least two days," she said practically, hiding her sigh of resignation. "So we had better plan for a long, cold walk."

"We can take our tent," Bill grinned. "It's ready now. It'll be toasty and warm once we set it up."

"That's extra weight we can't….."

"Hey, in my rock form, I'm…..what's the word? Anyway, I don't get tired. Ever. So I can carry _anything_ we need, and keep going as long as you want."

"I'm pretty strong, too," Zander reminded them. "Maybe not as much as Bill in his transformed state, but I am pretty strong."

"Good. Because we have a lot to carry, and I don't want to waste time with too many trips considering what Princess is trying to do out there," Shego grumbled. "The faster we get her what she needs, the sooner we can all regroup, and focus on what matters."

"Right," they all agreed, but Shego had to wonder if they even knew what that that focus should be.

Strange, she had to consider, how the women in their group did tend to defer to Princess just as much as the guys. Well, not as overtly, but still….. 'Our' Kimmie? Shego wasn't quite sure she liked Amy saying that. Not one bit.

It wasn't like she had any claim on the inestimable redhead. It wasn't like her impromptu confession of her relationship issues back during those first, tense moments meant anything to her. Not really.

She just didn't like Amy talking that way.

Not about….her Kimmie.

Shego stared after the big woman, her eyes rounding slightly, and muttered, "Doy."

She then wondered if Pinky was feeling the same way.

If so, she was headed for a major letdown. Shego would see to it herself. Just as soon as she decided what to do about Amy.

**KP**

Kim pondered the first scans Jade had sent back to her Kimmunicator, fortunate enough to have found a functioning satellite in the region she could bounce back a signal that reached her.

If they were going to have any kind of reliable communications in the future, she was going to have to do something about those satellites. Maybe check those still in orbit to assess their value, or if they could be repaired. Perhaps salvaged, or used to salvage others. That meant she was going to have to keep at least a few of the space suits intact, and functional, too. That meant those air tanks had to be refilled. Somehow.

Yet another item on the increasingly long 'to-do' list she was mentally creating as she tried to work on several levels at once.

Even as she was she checking the scans, she was considering a potential team to take out into the field while Sara helped her oversee work crews that had built up, and strengthened the wall, even while they started building stronger, better shelters that could be insulated, and heated far more easily than the old, drafty caves they had been using.

The women, she had noted, took to the shelters with far more ease than the men who eyed the walls suspiciously, and kept testing the doors every time they went through them.

Clothing was going to be another issue, too, because she couldn't see herself running around in deerskin, or similar hides. She had never been that good with domestic arts, though, and readily admitted it. Kim was hoping some of the others might have ideas there.

Meanwhile, the men hunted with more confidence, and while they were all on alert, so far they had not seen any more warbots.

That made her suspect that they were either widely scattered in order to cover whole regions, or that they had been as susceptible to the ages since being left behind as anything else her own people had ever built. Because so far, all she had managed to find was a few crumbling towers, and they had not been able to scavenge much more than few toiletries and old clothing, and little of it had been able to resist the ages, either.

Still, the absence of the warbots masters confused her. Why destroy a world just to leave? What had happened to them if they had humanity on the run? Although, to be honest, she was relieved they weren't around just now. It would be one more complication she didn't need.

Especially since, she had to admit, things were not looking too good for her initial plan of scavenging for things they needed.

She was almost desperate enough to consider another flight to the moon to see if she could find anything else left behind.

Not her first choice after how close their escape had been.

Then she focused on a particular void in the sonar scan Jade had relayed of a certain part of the old city that had once been her home.

"Drew, look at this," she called to him, gesturing him over from the workbench where he was finishing the rest of the upgraded radios for their own while she had been doing her own thing. "What's that look like to you," she asked, indicating the void in the deep scan Jade had focused on at her instruction before her departure.

"Hmmmm. If this is what I think it is, Kimberly," he told her, eyeing the holographic projection she displayed over her Kimmunicator. "It appears that the Science Center may well have created an environmentally-controlled vault to augment their primary storage facilities since I was. ah, last there."

"That was what I was thinking," she admitted to the blue man.

"I see," Drew smiled, his eyes glittering again just a bit. "So, you're hoping that they managed to somehow spare whatever was inside from the ravages of time the way you protected your amazing vehicle?"

"At the least. Even if it weren't shielded, this kind of vault had to have helped control any major debilitation the years might have forced on unprotected technology. I think this makes my plan all the more viable. Would you agree?"

"Absolutely. And if I might be so daring, I'm hoping you will allow me to assist you on this potentially exciting endeavor," he smiled with anticipation.

"That goes without saying, Drew. We'll need your scientific mind when we get there. Likely Shego's safe-cracking skills, too."

"We'll need someone strong, but also intelligent enough to understand what we're undertaking, too."

"You mean Zander?"

"The erstwhile Brute did manage to keep GJ going in circles before one of his own betrayed him."

"So, you knew him?"

"For a while. He was more interested in keeping your former allies out of his neighborhood than in any real world-conquering schemes, though. His problem was that he grew too powerful. Too successful. By the time his forces grew big enough to challenge GJ, they were already targeting him."

"So, he was just another victim, too."

"Well, his methods were admittedly…..harsh at times, but…it was a harsh time for all of us. I think, after you apparently died, the world seemed to have lost a lot of hope, Kimberly. A strange admission from someone like me, I know, but that was the way I saw it."

Kim frowned at that.

"I hate to hear that. I always thought….someone else would have….stepped up. Done something."

"Oh, a few tried."

"And….?"

"Global Justice became very determined to control anyone with, shall we say, unique gifts after your apparent end. Very determined."

"So, a lot of them were likely up there in….."

She looked up, but the sky was overcast again, and they couldn't have seen the moon even if it were there.

"Likely," Drew agreed.

"Damn," she murmured. "So…..My discovery damned over a thousand people to…"

"Your discovery is giving us the change to reclaim our own world, and spare our species genuine extinction. I recall a daring young woman who once challenged me to look for the silver lining in everything. Perhaps, if I might be so bold, you might now recall your own advice?"

Kim stared at the man. Stared hard.

Here was a man that spent years trying to kill or neutralize her. Trying to claim the world in some misguided notion of conquest. Yet now he was here, with her, trying to help her save what little of their world was left.

"Thanks, Drew," she nodded, shutting off the holographic overlay. "For reminding me what's really important. We'd better finish up. I want to be ready for phase two when Shego gets here."

He glanced over to the hollowed out shell of the warbot they were working on, and grinned. "I think we can guarantee Shego will be quite surprised when she arrives."

"I think surprised is the least of what she'll express when she hears the rest of my plans," Kim grimaced.

"Our plans, my dear. Recall, we are now all in this together."

"To the end," she asked with a wry grimace.

"End? Why, not at all. I'm quite confident that with you leading us, this will only be the beginning. Only the beginning," he grinned. Then his eyes flashed as he added, "Especially once we get into that vault."

Kim couldn't help but laugh as Sara walked over, and sank down on a stone Kim occasionally used as a seat herself as it was so near the makeshift table they were using to work on the parts taken from the ruined war machines.

"You okay, Sara?"

"Peachy," she grumbled. "Even though that freak that...grabbed me is gone, I've still got a bunch of horndogs in fur following me around, and one of them keeps trying to drag me off to….. You know?"

"Was he the one that raped you," Kim asked, having heard her full story she had yet to share with the others, and glancing back at the men that still kept a wide distance from her when she wasn't commanding them.

Ironically, they did listen to her. Did everything she said. But none of them stayed close when they did not have to do so. Most of them kept eyeing the sky more than the horizon now.

Still, it was a start. They were starting to build a second stone house outside their caverns, and the women were involved now, too, obviously ensuring they did the job right as they worked on branches that would make a support for the roofing of mud, and ice used to insulate the buildings.

"No. I thought I told you that was the one that went out, and….disappeared."

"Oh."

"But there's obviously a replacement that seems to think I should….welcome him."

"You can't dissuade him."

Sara sighed.

"I never learned to fight. Not like….you or Shego. And like I told Shego, what my power does to people is….. Well, I only used it once, by accident. I never want to do that again."

"I'll take your word for it," Kim nodded at the teen. "I won't deny, I've made my own share of mistakes. The trick is to learn from them, and move on."

"Even now?"

"Especially now. You've heard some of what Drew and I are working on?"

"Yeah. I heard you guys talking about it most of the night. I was…restless."

"Think you can handle staying here with some of the guys if we have to leave you? Do you think you could help keep these people in line, and on track?"

Sara grimaced.

"Me?"

"Not by yourself. I know I'm going to need Zander, Shego, and maybe Hawk. I figured the rest of you could manage the home front, as it were. If you feel you're up to it?"

"You're not taking Amy? I mean, isn't she like some kind of genius, too?"

"I'm not sure yet. We still have….details to work out. But so far, I know Drew, Shego, and Zander may be critical."

"You're really going to try to dig into that….place? The safe you were talking about?"

"It's more than a safe. It's an underground bunker that likely houses enough advanced technology to help us make a real difference here. We obviously can't last like this. We have to change things. Give all of us a real chance. Or….try."

"Then I'll make do," Sara nodded. "Don't worry. I won't be any trouble."

Kim reached out and touched her shoulder when the pink-haired girl glanced away.

"Hey?"

"Yeah," she murmured.

"I don't care about trouble. I want to make sure you're all right, too. You're one of us now, remember? We all have to be okay, or none of us are. If you think you can't handle staying, say so."

"Can I…..think about it," she asked quietly.

"Sure. It'll likely be another day or two before Shego, or Jade gets back."

She nodded.

"At least we won't have to live in caves," she said, glancing toward the foundation of a third shelter. "These guys are pretty good at making walls once you get them moving."

"I don't think they're stupid, Sara," she called her again, the teen no longer as adamant about using her old codename. "I think they were just discouraged from being….creative for too long. Hopefully, we can change that. If you remember anything about history, we humans can be pretty darn clever given half a chance."

"And you're going to give them that?"

Kim's green eyes glittered.

"I'm going to try to give them a lot more than that. A lot more. I hope," she added when she glanced toward the western horizon.

_To Be Continued…_


	11. Chapter 11

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**LJ58**

**11**

Shego and the others arrived the same day, and almost the same hour as Jade.

Kim and Drew were still pouring over the global overlay she was projecting when Shego lead the way into their growing encampment with some very weary companions. Even she was surprised to see how much the small troupe had forced themselves to carry in order to fulfill her orders.

"I didn't expect you to carry it all at once," Kim sputtered, eyeing their sizeable packs. "You could have made a sled, or something, too, if you planned on carrying so much."

"A sled," Zander groaned. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Too busy being macho," Sara muttered, guessing the lot of them had all been more interested in outdoing one another than not.

Even Hawk, who remained on patrol when not resting, tried to push himself to the edge at times, intent on proving he was just as good as anyone else. Or better.

She thought it was silly.

"Hey, I tried to tell them, Kim," Shego huffed, and dropped her own heavy pack. "The only one with any sense was Amy here. Well, and me," she added even as she glanced toward Amy who was not that far behind as the others in spite of her own sizeable pack.

Apparently, she was stronger than she looked, too.

"Next time, use a sled, or travois," Kim told them. "None of your are any good if you're too tired to move, or you hurt yourselves. Have some sense," she snapped.

Even Zander looked chagrined, and simply nodded.

"We get it, Princess. So, tell me you guys have done something besides play house here," Shego complained, looking at the four, sizeable stone structures that by now looked slightly passable.

At least, when compared to the dreary caves she had already seen.

"We have a plan, and we have a goal," Kim told her. "What we don't have, are options. Jade just returned, and if you look at what she found," she said, activating her own Kimmunicator to display a floating globe over her wrist. "You'll see what Drew and I already saw."

"Uh, what are we looking at," Henry asked.

"What he said, Red. Beside, the blips…. They're not doing it for me," Bill told her wearily, his trek having taken more out of him than he wanted to admit.

"Those blips are small, and I stress small pockets of survivors. Even our most liberal estimates put the number of surviving humans at less than a few hundred thousand. Give or take. That's globally, too. Most are as bad off as our friends here, or…..worse. Jade managed to wreck a bot that was taking out a small group that were living in Australia. Hopefully, they'll have a chance to thrive now, too, with their 'guardian' gone."

Shego stared at the redhead as she deactivated the hologram.

"What about…I don't know, underground shelters? Maybe some people are still laying low. Surely seven billion people aren't just….gone," Shego ended in a choked rasp.

"Even if there are shelters," Drew put in when Kim looked somber. "They'd be buried under tons of ice. If they haven't smothered due to lack of ventilation, or starved from obviously dwindling resources, they have no way of getting out. No, Shego," the former madman said somberly, "I'm afraid we can't count on that possibility for survivors."

"Not that it isn't possible, but…. It is unlikely at this point," Kim admitted. "Along with the few survivors, Jade also detected at least another twenty active warbots around the planet. All of them focused on the area survivors, wherever they were to be found. Mostly in China, parts of Europe, and Africa. South America seemed….abandoned for whatever reason. Or...their groups didn't survive."

"A people used to tropical climates would have not been able to adapt as easily as others," Zander murmured thoughtfully. "Or they fled seeking help from somewhere else, maybe thinking others might have had it better."

"For whatever good it did them," Bill said grimly.

"Then what kind of hope do we have," Shego asked.

"This," Kim said, and displayed a new hologram.

"What the…. Your dad's old lab?"

"Right, you've been there," Kim said with a half smile.

"Like….a thousand times," she grunted. "Easiest place to break into for being a secure lab. Or it was."

"We're hoping it still is," Drew told her.

"Still…. You're going to try to…..?"

"From what Drew told me, GJ took to hiding a lot of their confiscated tech there, too."

"You're hoping something survived in that vault," Shego realized.

"Exactly."

"That's a long stretch," Shego grimaced.

"I'll admit, things haven't been looking too promising based on what little we've found to date, but I'm still hopeful. MSC had the best shielding on the planet. If no one raided the vault in whatever final days they faced, there might still be something there that can help us. All of us."

"What aren't you saying," Shego asked curtly, "Because I know you, Possible. You've got something on your mind."

Kim eyed the others, all of them focused on her, and her alone.

"It might be best to let them know," Drew told her.

"I'm guessing you figured it out," she sighed, eyeing the admittedly canny man that was quite bright now that he wasn't manically driven to whatever had prompted his earlier scheming.

"It wasn't hard," he admitted. "A few moments of contemplative extrapolation, and it was really quite simple."

"Well, how about explaining it to the rest of us," Shego demanded irritably.

"I'm looking for my quantum projector."

"Your who….what?"

"Of course," Zander murmured. "But isn't it unlikely to have survived? Let alone still be functioning? Then again, if you're hoping to use it as a teleportation…?"

"No, no, no. That's too dangerous even for us. No, what I'm hoping to do," she said, eyeing Shego, "Is send a message. Back in time."

"Back…..in time?"

She turned to nod at Sara.

"Exactly. My projector was one of the experiments GJ confiscated from me before they finally just grabbed me. I'm hoping if I can find it, and get it running, it'll be enough to send a message back to our original time, and…. Well, maybe change what happened here," she said, gesturing around them.

By now, the industrious, and obviously not stupid primitives were building on their own, and coming up with little innovations of their own. Freed of their fear, they were working on things that proved Mankind's creativity wasn't dead yet, and things might yet improve. If they managed to survive. Kim was also working on giving them a slight taste of feminine equality. Something the men didn't seem to care about, but were loathe to challenge. The women, however, rather enjoyed not being grabbed by a man any time he seemed to wish it.

Sara, she noted, still stayed close to her, but her apparent suitor still watched her. If warily. Usually a glance from her sent him seeking other places to be, though. Kim still wasn't sure they were getting the message, but hopefully, in time, they would figure it out.

"But, if we change the past, doesn't that destroy _our_ future," Sara asked uneasily as Kim considered the social ramifications of their interaction as much as anything else.

"Do you _want_ to live in this world," Shego asked bluntly, realizing what Kim was obviously hoping to pull off.

"I actually don't think things will change. Well, not too much," Kim sighed. "Besides, if my theories are anywhere near correct, the 'grandfather paradox' is closer to the truth than most suspect, and at best, all we'll be doing by warning the past is creating a new multiverse that gives mankind a chance to survive. Or that's my theory," she shrugged.

"So….. We'll still be _here_," Amy Hall asked with a weary sigh.

"Yes, Amy," Zander nodded. "But somewhere out in space/time, a new universe, a new world is created where our world was warned in time to defend itself. And hopefully, drive off the aliens."

"Doesn't that mean we would still be stuck in popsicle-land even if that happens," Shego asked with a scowl.

"That's…a very good possibility," Kim nodded.

They all shared a grim expression, but Zander finally nodded. "Let's go for it, Kim. We may be screwed either way, but this? This place is just wrong. Let's send the message."

"First we have to get there, and find the machine. Then get it running. That's the next phase. We'll have to split up again, too. I'll take a team with me to reach, and repair the projector, but I want those left behind to stay here and help establish a permanent camp here. We'll continue to scavenge the shuttle, and try to find other….let's just call them storehouses, but our primary purpose now is survival. Everything goes toward that."

"Why not just go blast all the other bots, and then bring the rest of the people here," Bill asked.

Even Shego glowered at him.

"Taking out the bots is a given," Kim told him. "That's next on the list. Right after the projector, or nothing else is going to matter. But you're not thinking. You start bringing people together that have been separated this long, and we don't know what kind of germs, or potential epidemics we might create. We're lucky we all apparently seem to be close enough to our….descendents here that they don't seem to have any issues. Direct contact with others, however, might…."

"Spread germs they can't combat, and finish off what remains of the human race," Drew realized.

"Exactly. So, we will get rid of the bots, but for now, direct contact is out. Not until we're sure we won't be spreading some kind of contagion. Or, until we can find sufficient medical supplies that might help in case we do," Kim stressed.

"Yeah, because if I remember anything, that bug thingy goes both ways. They could end up giving _us_ something nasty," Shego grimaced.

"I rather doubt you'd have any problem," Drew told her. "I doubt there is anything that could survive in your comet-powered metabolism."

"Yeah, and how about you, Doc," she retorted. "Feeling up to the Future Asian Bird Flu, or whatever now?"

"I believe that was Kimberly Anne's primary point," Drew grimaced. "For now, survival requires we refrain from any direct contact with…..foreign people."

"Speaking of weirdos," Shego went on, looking around. "Where's bird boy?"

"Off scouting. He's been our eyes while Jade was gone. He also helps the hunters find food, and watches out in case we missed any bots in sthe area. So far, it looks like this continent is safe again. Unless one of them figure out how to cross the oceans."

"You mean the _frozen_ ones," Shego reminded her.

"Not that frozen. Remember, these are very heavy, very dense robots that don't want to go stomping over questionable ice floes. Besides, they may have been programmed to only operate in certain areas, too. For now, that's our belief, at least, as Jade noted none of the others seem to be trying to come this way."

"Or they have a limited range of whatever they use for detection of human tech, or activity," Zander pointed out.

"That's a very good point," Amy beamed.

"Yes, it is. We're still going to focus on their destruction once we return from MSC, though."

"Why not do it first," Shego shrugged. "It's not like the ice lab is going anywhere."

"Because we also hope to find a lot more in that lab," Drew pointed out. "Better weapons. Maybe even….."

"Oh, no," Shego murmured, knowing that look.

"A weather machine," Drew smiled, looking much more like himself.

"Right now, that would be a bonus," Kim agreed. "Used properly."

"Of course," Drew agreed at once.

Shego just rolled her eyes.

"So, who is the team," Amy asked with a smile of anticipation.

"And how do you get everyone going there," Zander pointed out more reasonably.

Drew grinned, and looked to his left.

Shego groaned as she spotted the warbot's hollowed out shell now fit with a series of small, anti-grav turbines she knew were his design.

"No way," she growled. "Absolutely no way," she declared.

Kim and Drew only laughed at her.

**KP**

In the end, Kim brought more people than expected.

In fact, she brought everyone.

Shego had pointed out that Surge's power might be handy, and maybe even necessary. She already knew she needed Shego's plasma, Drew and Zander's brains, and then someone suggested Amy's medical expertise might be handy, too, if something unexpected happened.

Just the idea of leaving just Henry and Bill behind, even as cooperative as they were, struck her as a bad idea with the burly, primal humans so far impressed with their apparent power. So in the end, she brought everyone.

Drew sat next to her in the Roth, with Sara and Henry in the backseat on either side of Amy.

Zander and Shego were piloting the makeshift hovercraft towed behind Jade since it was only able to rise and descend, and that was all. Still, that vehicle now carried all the gear and provisions they might need, which made it critical for what they were attempting. Henry, Nolan, and Bill rode with her to give the craft extra balance, as Shego put it, which proved surprisingly tricky to hold steady since it wasn't exactly aerodynamic. That, and Nolan, AKA Hawk, could always take off to fly ahead if they needed to scout something.

Before they left, they impressed the need for the men and women to build better defenses, and better weapons in spite of the laser bots she had crafted atop the wall out of spare bot parts that would react solely to Lorwardian threats. She also impressed upon them, needlessly, it seemed, the need to store up more food. It took longer to reassure the women they were coming back.

Amy, however, had proved to be a surprisingly big hit with the children, and there were a lot of tears when the woman climbed into the Roth with the others.

Kim had given the apparent tribal leader her promise she would return, and they would be protected, and chants of 'Pozle' now joined 'Pof' as the Roth, and its strange 'trailer' rose into the air, and flew off toward the northwest.

"How long do you think it'll take us to get there," Sara asked her, genuinely relieved not to be left behind after all.

"Not long. That won't be the problem, though. While Middleton was in the mountains to begin with, we won't know how far down it was buried under this icepack until we get there. That's the real problem."

"So, that's why you wanted Shego?"

"Well, she'll help. So will Bill. They can manage the tunneling far easier than any of us. Hopefully, it won't be far, and it won't be too…..dangerous."

"Digging in ice is always tricky, though," Amy murmured.

"Indeed," Drew agreed with Amy. "I've had a few ice lairs that proved to be….less than successful."

"The less said about those, the better," Kim agreed with a grimace.

"Oh, that sounds like a good story," Henry grinned, slowly starting to be more overt in his manner as he found himself accepted in spite of his less than useful ability.

"Not really," Drew grimaced himself now.

"I don't know. Some of it was….funny."

"You, Kimberly Anne, didn't end up with pneumonia after one such caper. I thought I was going to die after Shego finally dragged me out of that slushy pond you dropped us into that one time."

"A lesson learned," Amy cut in. "Remember, everybody," she singsonged. "What's important is the here and now, and we're all in this one together."

"A very timely reminder," Drew readily agreed with a warm smile. "And I must say, I'm actually rather glad to be on the…er, winning side this time."

"You were before," Kim reminded him. "Several times, actually. You just have to remember what is important, and what makes the fight worthwhile."

"Indeed. Strangely enough, I did enjoy that little jaunt we took against Warmonga that second time," he admitted with a crooked smile. "I'm still astonished, though, that outnumbered and alone on an alien spaceship, you never gave up hope."

Kim sighed as they flew on toward the Rocky Mountains, now a snowy lump under the thick ice covering most of the world.

"I knew I had my family and friends out there helping us, Drew. I knew, as long as they were with me, I could do anything."

"Yet… Don't you still think that? I mean, even though we're kind of…..on our own now," Sara asked.

Kim shot a quick glance over her shoulder at Sara, and gave her a faint smile.

"I still believe that, Sara, because you guys are my _new_ family and friends. Along with those guys we left back in Texas."

"Or what used to be Texas," Henry murmured.

"I understand what you mean, Kimberly," Amy told her with a serene smile.

"We all need to remember that, too," Kim told her with a nod. "Because if we don't work together now, the world really is…."

"We'll get through," Drew told her, giving her a confident smile. "After all, you got us this far, and I think we all know it looked pretty bleak when we first woke up. Yet….here we are. About to change the world yet again."

"We hope," Kim murmured.

"Hey, anything is possible," Sara chirped.

Kim couldn't help but laugh.

**KP**

"Whoa," Shego murmured, staring straight up the sheer, rocky cliff covered in ice. "And we didn't land on top because….?"

"The ice is too thin. And brittle," Kim told her as they climbed out of the vehicles that she had parked just beyond the jutting plateau under which Middleton was buried. Very close, Jade assured her, to the coordinates where Middleton Science Center had once sat. "We might get up there, but if we landed right on top of it, the combined weight of the vehicles might have caused an avalanche."

"Great," Shego complained. "Isn't that likely anyway the moment we start cutting into that wall of ice?"

"No. We'll be on the far side of the plateau from what the coordinates look like here," she said, again bringing up the holographic overlay to show them the terrain. "Jade thinks we can cut into the ice here," she pointed at the ghostly display, and reach a tunnel Ron and I used to use all the time when we were….. Well, it comes out real close to the Science Center's main building. Which is where we want to be. From there, it's just a matter of reaching the structure, and getting inside."

"And hoping it hasn't collapsed, and buried your vault under a ton of rubble," Shego pessimistically grumbled.

"That's where you, and our very molecularly dense friend come in," Drew smiled.

"I get it. Just remember, one tremor, and I'm blazing. No way am I going to be buried under a ton of ice. Not again."

"Again," Kim asked.

"Never mind," the green-skinned woman sputtered.

"I suggest we get to work, and take advantage of the light," Drew suggested.

"Because we need light inside a freaking hole in the ground," Shego huffed.

"We'll need light to set up the camp here. Which we'll need if this takes very long," he reminded her.

"We'll get the tent set up, and start foraging for….whatever," Henry told them as Bill nodded.

"Good. Hawk, can you carry me up there?"

Nolan eyed the slender redhead, and grinned.

"No problem, Kimberly. I could carry him," he nodded at Zander. "But I'm going to need some serious calories afterward."

"Okay. So, get me up there. You and I will take a preliminary look around, and discern what we need first. No sense in hauling anything up we don't need. Drew, start sorting the gear, and get any working flashlights, and our spacesuits out."

"Spacesuits," Shego frowned.

"We're not all able to shift into stone, or turn up our core temperatures," Drew reminded her. "The ordinary humans among us are going to need the insulation when we get down into the interior of this icepack."

"Exactly. Nolan. Let's go. The rest of you guys, let's unload, get camp set up, and remember…. Keep….."

"Our eyes open," everyone echoed at once.

Kim blushed.

"Control freak," Shego muttered as Nolan carried the redhead up into the air. "I swear, she's worse than ever."

"She cares, Shego," Drew told her. "She doesn't want anyone to get hurt. Even I can see that."

Shego didn't comment, as she glanced around with a bleak scowl, and declared, "I'm going to find wood. We're going to be needing fire if we're here very long."

"Shouldn't you take a….."

"Anyone tries jumping me," she told Sara. "Is asking for it," she spat with a truly venomous growl.

"What's wrong with her," Henry frowned as Shego stalked off, leaving deep prints in the snow that all but sizzled.

"Oh, she just doesn't like Kimberly going off alone," Amy said with a breezy wave of her hand. "She worries."

"Indeed," Drew murmured, very grateful Shego had not heard that one.

_To Be Continued…_


	12. Chapter 12

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**LJ58**

**12**

"Almost there," Kim said, checking her GPS even as they pulled away from rubble from a collapsed wall. "The entry should be just beyond this room."

Except for Shego and Blok, they were all wearing their spacesuits again, sans helmets, all panting and weary from the effort of digging into the icy rubble as they pushed relentlessly on into the mostly collapsed ruin that had once been a state-of-the-art research center for all things science. Fortunately, the outer walls had held up, and kept most of the inner chambers accessible, so it wasn't too hard.

Except in places.

Ironically, digging into the ice, getting down the slick tunnel that led them to the old building was quite easy, so they got through that hurdle in less than a day. It had been three days of steady digging in shifts since before they got to this point.

"You said that….four hours ago," Shego panted, even her reserves obviously low as she had been using her strength and plasma to ease their labor as much as possible when Blok's sheer bulk and strength couldn't just bull through an obstacle.

"Well, just on the other side of this room is a shaft that goes... Should go...to the subbasement. A quick climb down, and we should be right in front of the vault door."

"Bring it on," Shego panted, still winded after her last exertion.

"Let's rest first," Drew suggested. "Just in case," the blue-skinned scientist suggested as Blok crashed joined fists into, and through a panel that shattered, and showed them the rest of the chamber that was disorderly, but fairly open.

"There," Kim cried, her own excitement rising again for the first time in days. "Just behind that panel," she said, and walked over with heavy, plodding steps since the suit did make work cumbersome. Still, the suits kept them warm enough to function in what would have otherwise been impossible conditions.

She tapped on the small keyboard next to the panel, and grinned ruefully as nothing happened.

"I know. Wishful thanking."

"Allow me," Blok grumbled as his thick, stony hands jammed into the sides of the wooden panel, and the frame splintered. Then he tugged, and pulled it away, leaving a gaping, dark hole in front of them.

"Think those cables are still strong enough to support us?"

"Better let me test them," Zander suggested, reaching around them to grab one of the cables as he walked over to join them. "I'm strong enough, and heavy enough to give them a real test without ripping them out of their moorings," he said when Blok had started to try them.

"Oh, right," the stony man in full shift murmured.

"If you're going down, you'd better shift back, too," Drew pointed out.

"Actually," Zander said, pulling hard against the cable that strained, but seemed to hold. "I suggest we all get out of these suits, now, too. It may still be cold, but what we have to do now is going to make it hard enough without wearing these anchors."

"Granted," Kim grimaced, but eyed the darkness before her, and remembering how far down it was before they reached the vault. "But we have one hour after we get down, and then we bail. We can't risk hypothermia, or worse, no matter what we find."

"Agreed," Drew nodded. "Who goes first," he asked.

"Duh," Shego said, and jumped into the darkness, and slid down the cable without hesitation.

"I believe that settles that question," Kim grinned, and after removing her own spacesuit, she retained the gloves to help her slide down the cable, too.

"Next," Drew asked, obviously in no hurry as he slowly removed his own suit.

Twenty minutes later, they were all shivering in the dark before a huge, steel door as Shego worked on a very old tumbler as they watched in silence as the single lamp illuminated the eerie, stygian dark of the underground chamber.

Kim was just glad the door had a manual failsafe, or even Shego might have had trouble with the huge, steel slab that now kept them from what might be their world's only hope.

A few tense moments later, and a grating, rusty sound of metal reluctantly moving sounded as Shego tugged at the big door. Bill shifted again, and added his stony might to her efforts, and together the creaking door slowly parted.

"Whoa," more than one of them murmured at the sight of the packed shelves, huge, wooden crates with warning markers, and far more as they stepped into the vault itself.

"It feels…..warm in here," Drew noted.

"It does. The insulation must have retain some heat in spite of all this time," Kim realized.

"Hey, think we can do something like we did up on the moon," Shego asked, looking around as her own flashlight played over a small control console.

"It's worth a try," she agreed.

"I found a generator," Sara called out just then from not far away.

"No, don't touch that," Drew yelped even as Sara tried to switch something on that sparked hugely, and blew her halfway down the corridor where she had been.

Fortunately, she landed sprawled atop Zander, who had intercepted her mid-flight before she might have landed on something more dangerous. Or even lethal.

"That was my old bio-static vaporizer," Drew sighed. "Apparently, it still functions. You're quite lucky you weren't….well, vaporized. Likely your own powers helped channel the charge, and saved you."

Sara looked utterly sick at that.

"So, no more touchy," Shego bellowed.

"Right, no one touch anything unless you're a scientist, or have direct experience with doomsdays machines," Drew called out when he saw her scorched pink hair, and pale visage.

"Oh, indeedy," Amy agreed, but was looking around all the same as Shego just rolled her eyes.

"I think they have a standby system here. It might not last long, but it might give us enough power to assess the inventory, and figure out what is here, or not," Kim said, and eyed Shego. "It may take a lot of juice, Shego. Are you sure…."

"Kimmie, I did not come all this way to stumble around in the dark hoping we find something. Let's do it."

"Okay. Let's see if they kept dad's designs when they built this thing," she murmured, and climbed down under the console.

"What, did you Possibles build everything back then," Bill asked as he joined them.

"We tried," Kim said earnestly as she worked under the panel.

"They did," Drew sighed as he came over to watch. "It was quite vexing, too," he actually complained.

"Okay, Shego," Kim climbed out from under the console a few minutes later. "The same setup. Grab the yellow wires I left exposed, and channel whatever you can through them. Nothing serious, but we need a few minutes of power to see what we have."

"Okay, here goes," Shego said, and knelt down to grab the wires, hands already glowing a bright green in the darkness around them.

"Wow, we should start calling you light bulb," Nolan grinned as he watched the overhead lights around them flutter, and come to life even before the console began to react.

Shego's growl was eloquent.

"That's good, Shego. Looks like you restarted a redundant, inertia reactor someone must have installed," she said, studying the readings on the console before her. "It won't give us a lot of power, but it will do what we need for now," Kim added, bringing up the computer's logs.

She worked just a few minutes with a chirping access code that kept blinking red, and then suddenly the screen turned green, and she was scrolling the files of everything housed within the vault.

"Sorry, Drew," she said, running down the lists. "No weather machines. We do have some micro-dot power packs you might find on Row Twenty, Area Q-seven. It's next to some stores of cybertonic modules you might check out, too. If we can get those working, we can build almost anything."

"I'll just go check those out now," Drew grinned, and hurried off.

"Go with him," Kim told Zander. "He might need help," she added as she continued to search the list.

"Anything you need," Shego asked pointedly.

"I'm looking. There's a lot of gear down here. Dangerous tech. Serious doomsday stuff. Nothing we really need. Still, there's a lot of things we might….adapt, or….."

"Kimberly," Amy asked when she fell silent, staring at the panel.

"You okay, Princess?"

"It's….here," she choked, tapping the dimly lit screen. It's here."

"The quantum thingy?"

"Row Forty. This says…. It says, it's set up for testing. It may still be….intact….."

"Then what are we waiting for," Shego said, grabbing her arm. "Let's go."

Kim took the hint, shaking off her numbness, and heading down the long, barely illuminated corridors due to many broken, or malfunctioning lights as she flashed her own light around her, seeing boxes, crates, shapes. Some things that looked alien even to her. Then they reached Row Forty.

A huge, empty space at the back of the vault. Empty, except for a nine foot device that looked not unlike a sunlamp with a tripod set in place over the elongated bulb.

"My projector," Kim rasped, and stared at it for a long time.

"Will it work," Amy asked as the others just stared with her at the strange device.

Kim suddenly smiled, and stepped forward.

"Let's find out," she said, and lifted her Kimmunicator. "Jade, can you hear me?"

"Quite clearly, Kim," the AI responded at once. "You should be close to the vault from what your location indicates."

"We're standing inside. Can you relay a scan through my Kimmunicator, and give me a status of the device in front of me?"

"Your immediate environ is still somewhat vague," the living computer told her. "Give me a moment, and….. Working. Working. Working."

"Jade," Kim asked, staring hard at the device.

"According to the specs in my own files, everything is in place, and operational, Kimberly. You simply need an adequate power source, and….I suggest a _very_ good ground. You don't exactly have a proper proton vent for the potential emissions of any feedback surge down there."

"Good point. Thanks, Jade. Continue to monitor, and let me know if anything….noteworthy pops up."

"Of course, Kim. Good luck."

"That's a weird computer," Sara murmured to no one in particular. "It's like it's alive."

"She is," Kim told her, and stepped forward to pull a panel off the side of the base.

"What do we do," Shego asked her, sounding bland, but hovering all the same.

"I need cable. Any kind of cable. As much as you can find," she told her as she glanced back at the others. "There may be some outside the vault. In fact, if we could relay it to the elevator cables that we climbed down, that would be even better. Go in pairs, and see what you can find. And, guys, don't touch anything else. Old as some of this stuff may be, it's all dangerous."

"No kidding," Sara complained, still feeling sore from where she had been blown back.

Pairing off, they all went in search of any cable that could be found as Kim went to work preparing what was necessary for whatever she intended to do."

"You really think this thing can carry a message back in time?"

"That's my theory," Kim told her. "I originally intended it to view subatomic collisions on the quantum scale."

"Yeah," Shego drawled as she just watched Kim work, not leaving her since she felt everyone needed to have backup. Even Kim.

Especially Kim.

"Exactly," Kim went on, oblivious as she continued to work. "Until I realized that it could form a quantum bubble that could be refocused, and allow you to theoretically visit any time, or any place in the universe. Some felt it might even allow direct teleportation through space/time. I tried to tell them they were wrong."

"But if you can….?"

"You can view a certain point you target, but just that. I'm hoping I can also send a message, but….direct teleportation? No. The human body couldn't survive the immersion in the quantum field. You'd be broken down to your component particles, and sent spiraling across the quantum plane without any way of controlling where you went, or in how many directions. Betty didn't get that."

"That harpy never got much," Shego complained knowingly. "So, how do you send a message if you can't….teleport?"

"By projecting myself through time."

"Wait one damn minute. You just said…."

"Not teleport. _Project._ Think of it as casting a hologram via hard-light. Only it's through time and space. The trick is to know exactly when and where to do it. I think I do. That's the tricky part, though. Well, that, and getting the power we need to pull this off."

"That's where I come in again. Right," Shego asked.

"You, and Surge. We need every ounce of energy we can get. It's going to be a kind of a one-shot deal."

"Me, and Pinky. Surpercharing your machine….together?"

"Right."

"Princess, this is starting to sound like suicide to me."

"Far from it. That's why I want the cable. I should be able to sufficiently ground the emitter so any excess protons from the photon emitter are shunted away from me. That's the only real danger."

"The only….."

Shego choked as she considered what little science she had absorbed over the years. It didn't take much brainpower to realize Kim was still taking a very big gamble with her life.

"Maybe someone else should try this, and you just run the show. If something goes wrong…."

"Shego, don't worry. This is…."

"I swear, if you say 'no big,' I'm slugging you," she growled as Sara came back with Henry dragging a coil of thick copper wire with them.

"Hey, Kim, is this good?"

"That's perfect," she grinned at the girl who was doing her best to be helpful of late, and ignored Shego who was still fuming. "A bit more…."

"There's like a dozen rolls of it over that way. Next to some kind of….giant toothpick thingy."

"There you are," Drew said, coming around the corner with two heavy boxes in hand, Zander carrying more. "We found a veritable trove of essential gear, Kimberly. With all that's in here, we could virtually build anything we wanted. Anything!"

"Let's not get carried away," Shego muttered. "You guys go with Pinky. We need more of this cable for whatever Kimmie's about to try."

"Why didn't you…..?"

"Someone has to watch her so she doesn't blow herself up," Shego sputtered, cutting Drew off when he noted Shego wasn't following.

Neither of the men said a word as they followed the younger members of their group back around the corridors to the stash of cable.

"Well," Shego grumbled when Kim looked up from where she was already attaching the ends of the cable to her machine. "Get to work. Just don't get yourself killed. None of us know what the hell you're trying to do here."

"It's nice to know you care," Kim smiled at her, and bent back over her invention.

Shego only grumbled.

**KP**

Four hours of work later, Kim stood back and eyed her invention again. No less than five, thick copper cables ran off into the darkness to vent any feedback from the device. She had two extra panels wired into the existing wiring to bleed off any remaining power, and she was hoping she had everything calibrated properly after fine-tuning the projector for the exact time and place she was hoping to target using Jade's help.

"Well," Shego asked as Kim stood back, gave it yet another once-over, and just nodded.

"Hopefully, I got this thing up and running properly. Or this will be the shortest phone call in recorded history," Kim told them, and stepped in front of the photon emitters. "Shego. Sara. You're up," she told the women. "Don't worry about feedback. The grounds should handle it. But I'm going to need everything you have to pierce the quantum barrier. So, whenever you're ready," she nodded at them.

The emitters flashed even as Shego touched the exposed power converters, then Kim was surrounded by a bright, yellow light that brightened to dazzling white even as Sara stepped up, and slapped both palms to the machine. Then Kim gasped aloud, groaning in obvious pain as the light brightened briefly before she sagged, and fell back out of the already fading ring of light.

"Kimmie," Shego called, Drew and Zander catching her before she could reach the falling woman.

"Are you all right, Kimberly Anne," Drew asked, Shego looking genuinely concerned, and not bothering to hide it. "You took a dreadful chance."

"I…I think…. I reached him," she said, managing a weak grin.

"You didn't do anything," Shego sputtered. "You just glowed, and fell over."

"Really? Well, my perspective was different. A lot different. I saw Ron. _Three_ times! I think he heard me, too. I guess we'll know. Or, at least, I hope we'll know."

"So, that's it? We just wait and see if your ex can change the future," Shego complained.

"He may have already done it, if the multiverse theory is correct," Zander reminded them.

"But I want to go home," Sara whined. "To _my_ home. My girlfriend. My…..kitty," she sniffed.

"We all do, Sara," Kim told her, sitting up as she slowly recovered her composure, and this time the teen didn't snap back, or resist when Kim reached up, and embraced her. "But if we're right, somewhere out there, our planet still has a fighting chance. That's something isn't it?"

"Yeah, and that means that somewhere we'll be getting out in a world without ice and aliens," Shego growled. "I hope."

"But _we_ won't know it," Amy sighed.

"Don't you just love ironically paradoxical space/time conundrums," Drew sighed.

"No," every one of them barked.

Drew only sighed.

Sometimes laypeople just didn't appreciate the intricacies of science.

_To Be Continued…_


	13. Chapter 13

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**LJ58**

**13**

Ron watched the miraculous little car vanish into the cavern after it landed seeking sanctuary, and sighed.

Something wasn't right.

If Jade couldn't locate Kim, then either she was out of range, which seemed unlikely, or someone had somehow shielded her beyond the reach of the AI's sensors. Which was equally unlikely. Because so far as he knew, neither could be accomplished. Well, not that easily.

Even as he turned away from the cavern, he saw the air before him suddenly seemed to shimmer with a faintly glowing light, and gaped.

Even as he stared, he saw Kim wearing a GJ jumpsuit with a weird patch on it standing in front of him, her lips moving soundlessly as she tried to reach out to him.

Right before she vanished.

"Okay," Ron frowned, his hair tingling not just on the back of his neck, but over every inch of his body.

To a former sidekick who had been around more than his fair share of weird science, and doomsday devices, he knew something weird was happening in front of him without being told. He stood, and just stared at the space in front of him. He was still staring when a fellow ninja came looking for him, and at first ignored Hirotaka when he walked up to join him.

"Are you not coming back, Stoppable-San? Sensei is calling for you. He said…."

"Tell him I've got a sitch. Something just happened here, Hiro, and I think…."

Hiro suddenly vaulted back, gaping as the phantasm reappeared, and this time both men distinctly heard the shimmering image of the redhead shout, "Ron... I have to warn…..!"

Then she was gone again.

"I shall tell Sensei something….urgent has come up," he said his face surprisingly composed as he nodded to Ron.

"Tell him I'll be there as soon as I….."

The air suddenly turned hotter than ever, and both of them had to stand back even farther as once again a far more solid, but still vaguely transparent Kim now stood fully formed before them.

"Ron? Can you hear me? Listen, I have to warn you! The Lorwardians are coming back! They'll destroy the world this time. The _whole_ world. We woke up five hundred years afterward, and there's practically nothing but a frozen snowball left in their wake. You have to warn people. Get ready for them. I have Drew and Shego here, helping, but we…"

She faded again, as if falling back out of the shimmering haze that seemed to burst like a bubble before his eyes, and he had the feeling she was really gone this time.

"Five….hundred….years," Ron rasped, and looked up into the sky.

"Stoppable-San, I suggest we alert Sensei at once," Hiro said grimly, remembering all too well what happened the last time aliens came to their world.

"Not only him," he said, and quickly strode after Hiro this time, though he couldn't help looking back.

**KP**

Dr. Betty Director was still working at her desk in spite of the late hour when he was just abruptly there.

"You have a lot of gall coming here now," the one-eyed agent said, leaning back in her chair even as the door opened, and Ron Stoppable walked into her office as if out for a stroll.

That he was in the heart of a top-secret, underground headquarters even he shouldn't have known about didn't surprise her. He was, after all, a growing power in the ninja world. A mystic ninja if the rumors were true. She didn't doubt them for an instant.

Even she wasn't entirely sure what his limits might be now. If he had any. He certainly had a lot of new, and unexpected political clout as well judging by the reactions from the East were concerned.

"This isn't about us. I just heard from Kim."

"Kimberly? I know you can't mean…."

"She somehow sent a….a holographic message of some _kind….through_ time. She said she woke up five hundred years in the future," he told her earnestly.

"Unlikely. Her stay is only fifty years. So far."

"Fifty….!"

Ron fumed, his eyes glittering blue for a moment, but then he drew a deep breath, and calmed down.

"Whatever happened, has already happened. To her. She said they woke up five hundred years from now."

"They?"

"She mentioned Drew and Shego."

"Of course she did," Betty smirked. "Ronald, I don't know what you hope to….."

"There's more," Ron cut her off.

Will burst into the office just then, and exclaimed, "Dr. Director, we found the east wing guard…. You!"

"Stand down, Will," Betty waved him inside. "Ron is here with a message. Or so he says. Go on, Stoppable. What else did she say?"

"She," Will Du frowned, one hand on the holster at his side, though he wasn't sure the cold-eyed man in ninja gear would give him time to draw it. The former sidekick had changed much from that first near comedic encounter they had once shared.

"She said the Lorwardians came back. They destroy our world. Completely. She said nothing is left but….a frozen snowball. Her words."

"Really," Betty murmured, still showing no reaction.

"You have to believe me."

"You've been campaigning to have Kimberly released since you….somehow figured out we were holding her. Justly, I might point out, considering the path she was on."

"Let me guess. More Ron Factor insanity," he spat bitterly.

"Dr. Stein…."

"Is a moron. This is Kim Possible. And I know Kim," Ron told her. "The message is legitimate."

"Maybe, but I can't, and won't take that chance. I won't bother asking how you learned about the lunar facility, or anything else, but think hard about this, Ronald. Even if the warning is legitimate, I cannot risk freeing those women who might just be duping us from wherever, or _whenever_ they are," Betty told Ron. "Not to mention that they were only just incarcerated. They'd be as potentially liable to join any hostiles at this point as aid us," Betty retorted.

"Kim wouldn't do that," Ron fumed.

"Maybe. And that's one maybe I _can't_ risk."

"And the aliens?"

"We'll do what we can," she stated bland as ever.

"I'm betting that was what people thought when they returned. Kim told me how well that went," Ron told her curtly.

"We're not as helpless as we were the first time," Betty snorted. "We won't be taken by surprise again."

"We had two aliens, and a ship full of robots," Ron reminded her. "From what little she said, we'll be facing a lot more this time. If they destroyed our entire world…. She didn't know what they did to our planet's climate either. Remember, she said it's a snowball now. Or…then."

Betty frowned.

"What do you mean? Climate?"

Ron told her exactly Kim had relayed, and the bleak picture of human survival in her distant future. Betty's eye narrowed until it almost closed, but she said nothing.

"We have to let her go. We need….."

"No."

"But she may be our best chance….."

"Ronald, I've already explained my reasoning. Besides, suppose I let her go, and this future vanishes. That means we may lose this warning if it somehow impacts our current history. I am no physicist, but I do know my job. Possible _isn't_ the only woman on the planet that can help. Besides, as I recall, you were the one directly instrumental in stopping the Lordwardians the last time. Weren't you?"

"It was a group effort," Ron growled.

"For a man that allegedly broke up and moved on, you're remarkably loyal to Kimberly. I respect that. I, however, still know my duty. To the planet, and to Justice. She stays where she is. Meanwhile, we'll start preparing our planetary defenses….."

Ron growled. Literally growled.

"I should have dropped you the first time you tried to con KP into helping you posers," he spat.

Betty just stared coolly at him, seemingly untouched by his show of fury.

"Only I won't have to do anything to you this time. From what Kim says, the aliens do it for us."

"Stoppable," Will snapped when Ron just shoved him aside as he turned, and left the room.

"Let him go. Even he can't reach the moon. Now, get me every authority on Lorwardian tech we have."

"We have one. In Belgium," he grimaced. "He won't risk American custody, so we have to go to him."

"You're telling me that on this entire planet, only one scientist…..?"

"Actually, five others have mastered the technology, but I'm betting they'll be openly hostile to us just now," Will admitted.

"Why is…..? Dr. Possible, and Wade," Betty predicted.

"More like Possibles, and Wade."

"That's still only four."

"And Possible's very close friend, Dr. Felix Renton."

"Five," Betty sighed.

She eyed her top agent, and executive aide, and nodded.

"All right. Call them anyway, and give them the full briefing of Possible's alleged temporal warnings. If they realize the gravity of this matter, maybe they'll overlook personal opinions to help us defend our world if this isn't a hoax," Betty told him.

Will frowned.

"You think even Stoppable would make up something like this?"

"Remember who we're dealing with," she scowled, and went back to her own work.

**KP**

"Sorry about the abrupt nature of our…invitations," Ron said to the eclectic group assembled before him. "But I couldn't take the chance that Global Justice might intercept any of you before I contacted you. Time, as of now, is literally critical."

"What's going on, Ronald," Dr. Anne Possible asked as she, her family, and several of Kim's close friends sat around them in the middle of a group of ninja who had essentially abducted them without warning, and managed to carry them all the way to a location somewhere in Japan.

It was telling that Wade was also among them, looking less than happy.

Next to him was Justine Flanner with her current co-worked Felix Renton. Another recent PhD in their circle.

"Yeah, what's GJ up to now," the twin Possibles demanded curtly, looking less than happy. When they heard the truth, they were ready to literally target a certain one-eyed agent. Only their parents kept them from doing so as they tried to use a little common sense. So far, that had yet to pay off.

"We recently got a message from Kim," he told them abruptly. "I don't know how, but I know from _when."_

"When you say….from when," Justine murmured when the rest just stared.

"Let me tell you exactly what I know, and then we'll go from there. Because if you don't help us, we may be looking at the end of our world. Literally."

"Whoa," the twins murmured.

"You said….Kim sent the message," Wade asked, looking more curious than angry now.

"A week ago, I was seeing to some…..loose ends for her. You have to know by now that I found out that GJ not only took her, they are still holding her. She's not dead. She was taken by them, and put into cryo. On the moon."

"That no-good…."

"I knew we should have..."

"Boys," James cut the teens off. "Let's hear him out."

"She said she was speaking from five hundred years in the future."

"Five…..?"

Wade, Justine, and Felix all gaped as they echoed that single exclamation as one.

"Cool," the twins murmured.

"Not cool. She said they woke up to find the Lorwardians had come back, destroyed our world, and that the planet was virtually, if not literally dead. Nothing was left. In fact, she said the entire planet was a snowball."

They all stared at him.

"Then she vanished."

"How exactly did she appear," Wade asked.

"It was…weird. The air shimmered. Then it got really hot. Then she just kind of…..appeared. Like one of your holograms," Wade," he told him. "Only….ghostly. See-thru."

"The quantum projector," Jim and Tim exclaimed as one. "She must have found it, and made it work!"

"Or reproduced it," Wade suggested.

"Unlikely. Not on a snow-covered planet devastated by alien warriors," James murmured.

"True. True," the young genius accepted. "So, she must have found it. Made it work, and…..now what," he frowned.

"Now. We get ready to face the future," Ron said quietly. "Two nights ago, our Sensei died. He died with a particularly nasty vision that is already coming true. The aliens are coming. Soon. We are all going to die, unless we get ready now. GJ won't listen. They're still in committee," he paused to snort. "Listening to experts that know less than anyone else. That means it's up to us to save the world."

"And Kim," the twins declared.

"How can we save her in the future," Anne asked anxiously.

"Actually, I have a few ideas," Wade said in the silence that fell over them in the wake of that query. "But….it might change things if we directly act. I mean, if we manage to stop this all from happening…"

"Actually, the viability of changing an established timeline, even a future one based on any kind of forewarning is extremely unlikely. We may impact it in subtle ways, but the likelihood we actually change it is….astronomical. Unless you consider we are actually only creating offshoots in the multiverse that spawns…."

"Can we help Kim," Anne cut in.

"I think so," Wade told her.

"We have to do something," Ron argued.

"I agree," Yori said as she walked over to stand next to Ron. "Pardon, Stoppable-San, but we just learned that our guests have all been declared fugitives from justice by the Director woman. They are being hunted even as we speak. Our agents are covering their tracks to ensure they do not lead those dishonorable people in our direction."

James and Anne stared a grim look.

"You said you have an idea," James asked.

"I do," the young genius nodded at the man. "I just need Justine to help me figure out some precise calculations, but…..if we're right, we can provide help for her _when_ she needs it most. Whatever else happens."

"We're going to need some gear. A lot of it," Felix predicted.

"Yamanouchi is honored to see you have anything you require," Yori bowed to him.

"What she said," Ron nodded.

"Then let's get to work," Wade said, and no one argued. "We've got a lot to do, and apparently time is not in our favor."

**KP**

_Five Centuries Later….._

Even Kim was breathing hard by the time they reached the surface again. Especially as they all now carried heavy packs with a lot of scavenged equipment, and other gear from the tech bunker, as they had dubbed it.

"I guess…..we're done," Drew murmured as they looked around the icy plateau lit by the setting sun. "This is it."

"We're still alive, so I would like to think there is still some hope," Kim told them as she knelt down on the ice after leaving the large tunnel they had opened, and followed to what remained of the world they once knew. She panted heavily, but couldn't help but smile.

"Meh. I still recall your unyielding optimism," Drew pointed out as he panted, but remained on his feet. "Still, while I admire it now, I cannot help but point out….."

The shrill beeping tone that came from the Kimmunicator shocked all of them.

"Jade, what it is," she answered at once. "Unknown, Kimberly. This incoming signal is not part of my programming, or original equipment. It just…appeared. One moment while I….."

"Jade?"

"Kimberly, as curious as this sounds, I'm receiving a distress beacon. From Yamanouchi!"

"A….beacon," Shego jumped up from where she had dropped to her knees to rest, too. "That means….more people. Real people that can use science, and stuff," she realized.

"Maybe," Kim told her. "It might just be an automated beacon left behind like the rest of our world."

"But still active? After all this time," Drew asked. "It's more than unlikely without some kind of planning, and foresight. Otherwise the power demands, and backups necessary would have long since decayed along with everything else around it. Remember how we found the quantum projector."

"Then that means….. It could be more people like us," Sara asked hopefully.

"Jade," Kim rose to walk to the edge as she looked down toward the car. "Get up here now. And pinpoint the beacon, and try to ascertain the exact location of the source."

"Tracking now, Kimberly. This is difficult as there are only a few satellites left to even bounce a signal off, and only one in the area is even still active."

"There," she pointed, seeing the GPS grid where a beacon flashed again. "It is definitely from Yamanouchi."

"What is this Yama-whatsi?"

Kim looked up at Sara, and grinned. "Friends from a long time ago," she told her.

"Then what are you waiting for," Shego told her. "Go check it out."

Kim eyed the people with her, and nodded even as Jade rose over the edge of the plateau, and hovered nearby. "You guys okay to get back on your own?"

"No sweat, Kim," Hawk winked, more like himself than the others by now. "We have the hover-pod, and getting down is always easier than getting up. And we can certainly handle any bogeymen that pop up now. Even the alien ones."

"Naturally," Drew preened, keeping a hand on his small, but powerful laser he had further modified while down in GJ's long buried bunker.

"Just be careful. I'll be back as soon as possible, and we'll rendezvous at the base camp."

"Be careful yourself, Princess," Shego told her as Kim jumped into the hovering car, and buckled up. "We'd hate to lose you now. Loathe as I am to admit it," she was compelled to add. "We really do need you."

"Thanks, Shego," she smiled at the woman. "Believe me, I'm glad you were here, too. I can't imagine making it this far without you at my side. I knew you were still a _hero_," she added with a wink, and closed the door.

"Gah! You don't have to get _nasty_ about it," Shego roared as the Roth rose into the air, shaking a fist at her.

She didn't hear her, but she could see Kim's broad smirk as the car banked, and flew west over the mountains.

"So, you do like her, huh," Sara asked quietly as they all turned to watch Kim fly away.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I guess," Shego muttered, still staring after Kim.

"We all do," Drew informed her grandly. "And isn't that curious?"

"No, I mean you _like_ her," Sara told Shego.

Shego stared at the young girl whose pink hair had yet to start fading, and shook her head. "Grow up, Pinky. Me and Kimmie go way back. We aren't like that."

"Are you sure," she asked.

The men laughed as Shego actually blushed dark green.

"What do you mean, am I sure," she huffed, and scowled.

"I suggest we get off the mountain before those clouds reach us," Henry suddenly spoke up.

They all looked at the smaller man, then the dark gray ribbon not far away to the north.

"Time to go," Drew declared.

"Absolutely," Brute agreed.

"You guys start climbing, and I'll start carrying down what gear I can. Then carry you down as necessary," Nolan said, pulling off his outer jacket to let his wings grow once more.

"Sounds like a plan," Zander told him. "If things get bad, though, forget the gear, and go for us," he suggested.

"Absolutely," Shego agreed.

They shared a grin, and all prepared for the long climb down. All of them hoping against hope as Kim flew off to find out what else might left for them in their frozen world.

_To Be Continued….._


	14. Chapter 14

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**LJ58**

**14**

Kim imagined all manner of potentially plausible scenarios as she flew over the partially frozen Pacific toward the island nation of Japan. Most of it was covered under a thick blanket of snow and ice, and only the mountains that jutted high up over the sea itself gave any indication of where the country had once been. Had the mountains been any lower, the land would have been completely lost under the frozen seas.

"I'm lucky you even got my signal at all," Kim realized as she flew over the region where Mt. Yamanouchi should have been, and saw only a few hillocks atop the layers of ice.

"Micro-burst quantum tunneling tech. Wade upgraded my transceiver before he put me to 'sleep' that last time," Jade preened.

"Wait. He did what? I don't remember…."

"You were already frozen, Kimberly. We're approaching the tunnel I drilled to get out."

"You _drilled_ a tunnel?"

"Only from the cave since the snow and ice had filled the tunnel I had used to enter the cave where I waited."

"But….how did you tunnel out if you don't have lasers, or anything?"

"I channeled part of my redundant energy supply into my headlights, and turned them into low-level plasma emitters. It worked like a charm," Jade informed her.

"Wow. You really are a smart car, Jade."

"Don't you forget it," she preened anew.

"I wish I had built you a real body now. You deserve it."

"I'm not arguing," Jade informed her. "But if you had, I wouldn't have been around to come save you, or your friends."

"Right. Thanks. But you do know they're not really…..?"

"Oh?"

Kim frowned, and considered the most unlikely survivors of the human race that came out of cryo with her. "Well, yeah, I guess they are friends. Now."

Jade made a sniggering noise.

"Since when did you pick up the attitude, though," Kim asked her as they gently settled to the cavern still open in the ice that Jade's tracking system had followed the beacon to by now. Whatever was generating the signal was coming from the same tunnel where she had been hibernating.

"I just emulate your favored companion's personality and behavior," Jade informed her as her headlights came on of their own will, and the car moved into the cave as they descended into darkness.

"Which…favored companion," she frowned.

"The green one you like."

" The green one I….. Wait, you mean Shego? Why?"

"It's obvious you admire, and desire her. I thought to emulate her to better please you."

"I so do not desire her. You make it sound like I want to…. To….."

"Kimberly, my sensors do not lie."

"Well, then they need recalibrating," Kim grumbled as she studied the unfamiliar shadows in the growing cavern around her as they flew down into the dark hole where Jade had rested for centuries.

Then they reached a wide, cavernous chamber, and she noted something gleaming to one side of the dark, open space even as she parked.

"Jade?"

"I'm detecting multiple energy signals," the AI reported. "Kimberly, these signals were not here when I left. I would stake my multi-level silicate processors on it."

"I believe you," she said, and saw a familiar sigil on a wall near one computer panel that shimmered as if brand new even as she climbed out of the car to look around.

It was the old 'Team Possible' signature that Ron once toyed with making their logo back in the days when they had still been a team. She laughed, and all but ran over to the wall, eyeing the carved symbol that brought back so many memories.

"Ron," she sighed, then looked around at the row upon row of gleaming computers. Even as she studied them, she realized she was surrounded by a faint humming.

Electro-magnetic shielding. That was how they stayed looking so new. The same shielding Jade had used.

This, she knew, was definitely not like Ron, or Yamanouchi.

She studied the computer just beneath the symbol, and spotted a small, golden box setting atop it near a start-up lever. She picked up the oblong case, and opened it, seeing a familiarly designed band like the one she already wore.

Taking off the old one on impulse, she snapped the new band in place, and found the triggering mechanism worked the same as her last Kimmunicator/battle armor.

Almost at once the familiar feel of the nannite-driver body armor flowed around her beneath her parka taken from the vault from the store of clothing they had found there, too, and she even felt warm for the first time in weeks.

She saw a blinking light on the control gauntlet on her new armor as she studied the new band, and pressed the message button as she almost trembled in anticipation. Ron had gotten her message. It was the only explanation. And somehow her friends had come together to arrange this for her. But what was it, and what did it really mean?

Wade's painfully familiar face rose from a holographic projection almost the moment she touched the band. "Hello, Kim. Long time no see. Especially for you I'm guessing if this has reached you."

"You have no idea, Wade," she murmured.

"I left this specially designed Kimmunicator for you because it not only includes upgraded, and thermally-enhanced armor to aid you in whatever you are probably facing out there. But because it is necessary for what you now have to do. _Resurrect_ the human race!"

Kim's jaw virtually, if not literally dropped.

"There are five critical power stations spaced around the world that must be turned on before you can revive the volunteers we conscripted that agreed to join you in the future."

"Volunteers," she choked, looking around.

"The Kimmunicator's memory will lead you to each of the hidden power stations necessary to activate the cryo-stations primary revival systems. Each are electromagnetically shielded to protect and preserve them from any threat. Be it time, or the aliens, if any of them got past us. Frankly, I doubt we'll get them all. You wouldn't believe how many showed. Talk about spiteful…. But, never mind. Yamanouchi is just the first of the five outposts. We spread them out, and hid them to keep the big guys from finding out our gambit, or figuring out how we were doing things. And we made it simple. Just pull the lever on the console before you. Then leave."

"Leave," she frowned as the holo-Wade paused, and seemed to be looking away at someone or something.

In the background of the recorded message she saw her mother doing something, and felt an ache in her chest as she saw that brief flash of her on the recorded image.

"One last thing. Only _you_ can penetrate the security envelopes that will reactivate once you activate the power stations. It's a security feature Felix suggested in case you still have trouble out there, or are delayed in reaching the next outpost. Once all five are turned on, you'll get a signal from the cryo-station where the volunteers are sleeping. I guess that's all for now, and….. Good luck, Kim. We all miss you. But we know you'll be doing your best to save the world out there. Just like always," Wade grinned, and the hologram faded.

She smiled through tears as she stroked the golden band, and then looked down at the console before her. The control lever was simple, just as he had told her. Someone had even added a very large sign with an arrow indicating which direction to pull it. She didn't have to guess who.

She reached down, and pulled the lever.

Almost at once, the entire chamber lit up, and the hum of computers and machinery filled the air all around her.

She spun around, seeing Jade now more than visible now a few feet away in the sudden illumination as she stared at the warming machinery that was coming to life.

"Jade," she grinned, heading back for the car with the old battle armor in her pocket. "We have work to do."

"I'm getting another signal, Kimberly," Jade told her even as she climbed back into the car.

"So am I," she agreed, seeing a second beacon now on her wristband's tiny screen. It was located somewhere in India. High in the mountains that divided that nation from the rest of the world.

"Let's go," she told her, "We have a world to wake up."

**KP**

"We're not going to survive this high up," Henry pointed out as they huddled in the mountain's ice cave they had carved out with Drew's laser, and Shego's plasma. "Well, not all of us," he added as he glanced at Shego.

"Hey, kiddo," she called him. "Trust me, I'm freezing my buns off here, too. It's a real shame Drew didn't amp those radios yet. Because just now would be a real good time to call Kimmie to come and rescue us again."

"You think Hawk is okay," Zander asked quietly, the winged mutant having flown Sara and Amy down earlier after he had barely gotten half the equipment down before it became obvious the storm was coming in on them fast. He had yet to return since the storm had doubled its intensity after he flew Sara down, though.

"He's probably staying with the women. For safety," Drew said, teeth chattering as Blok sat quietly in his stone body, just staring.

"I still think I should go down and see if I can find them," the human rock complained.

"No. Nuh-uh," Shego shook her head. "I'm not saying you can't make it, but if we get separated in this mess, we may never find you again, Billie," she told him.

"She's right. And even you might get hurt if you wandered off a cliff, and fell very far," Zander informed him.

"Actually," Henry sighed. "According to what you guys have said earlier, you could have dropped him from the top of this mountain, and it would have only made him stronger. Kinetic energy equals mass with him, and all that."

"You understood that," Zander asked the androgynous man with a faint smile, his dark skin looking a little blue by now.

"Not a bit," Henry admitted, his own mutation one that embarrassed him dreadfully, and led him to do some truly stupid things that finally got him arrested. His last political gambit had just been the proverbial icing on the cake. "But you explained enough earlier that I picked up on what was going on. It's kind of similar to the way my metabolism works to keep me…..skinny," he sighed.

Zander smiled. "I would imagine transforming your body on a cellular level must take a lot out of you," he agreed.

"A lot," Henry agreed, wishing not for the first time that they had left the spacesuits on in spite of the fact it would have made climbing more awkward. They had been in the first packs carried down, though.

"Does someone hear…..honking," Drew asked.

"Honking," Shego frowned, then saw a sudden flash of light that just managed to pierce the dark gray haze beyond their cave.

"It's Kimmie," she exclaimed, and launched a green fireball to serve as a flare as she raced to the opening of their small cave.

"Over here," they all shouted over their radios, barely able to see as they stumbled to the ledge as Shego kept waving glowing hands even as they heard the shrill whine of powerful turbos, and the steady honking of a shrill horn. Their radios were still mostly filled with static.

Then a shadow dropped down before them, and a door opened to show a flushed, grinning redhead waving back at them. "I found Amy and Surge," she told them as the redhead shouted out the door. "They told me about your cave, but this storm is throwing out interference like you wouldn't believe. It can't be natural," she complained. "Anyway, come on, climb in. I'll take you down."

"Our gear," Drew gasped. "We can't risk losing it now. What about….?"

"Can you handle two trips," Shego shouted over the wind, and the sound of Jade's straining engines.

"No problem," Jade replied for Kim.

"All right. Drew, get the gear. Then you, and Henry go down. Zander, Bill, and I can wait for the next ride. But, Kimmie? What about bird-boy? Wasn't he with the others?"

"He had already left after dropping off Sara," she answered, her smile fading a bit. "I was hoping he made it back up here."

"Obviously, he didn't," Drew said as he packed the gear into the back as best he could as he and Zander dragged the things from their climb, and the added packs they salvaged that Hawk had yet to carry down.

"Don't keep us waiting," Zander told her as he shoved Henry in the back after the last pack was pushed inside. "By the way.… What did you find," he asked her as he helped Drew into the car when he almost slipped.

"We can talk after everyone's safe," Drew said practically as he settled into the passengers seat.

"I'll be back in no time," Kim assured them as Shego stared at her across the smiling, blue goof.

"We'll be waiting," Shego assured her.

"Keep an eye out for bird-boy," she shouted as the door closed, and the car banked away from the cliff, and into the storm.

"At least the others are okay from what she said," Zander remarked blandly, though he was smiling again.

"So are we if Princess is back."

"Sara was right. You do like her," the big man smiled as they settled back in the farthest corner of the ice cage to wait for Kim's return.

"Wanna go skiing? Without skis," Shego asked quietly as her green eyes fixed on him.

Zander just smiled, and chuckled as Bill wisely stayed quiet. "I get it."

"So, how the hell did you get your codename? Because, I mean, seriously. Brute," Shego quipped.

"Tell me about yours first. _Shego_."

"Touché," she drawled, giving him an indignant glare.

"I'm sure we both have our reasons for keeping our pasts past."

"Yeah," she grumbled. "Like they're really important here and now."

"You think Hawk will be okay?"

"He strikes me as a narcissistic pretty-boy who would take care of number one first and foremost even after Kimmie's brain thingy. I'm sure he's holed up someplace waiting for a chance to spread his wings again."

"So, you're worried about him, too," Zander asked.

Shego scowled again, but said nothing.

"Yeah. Me, too."

"He should have stayed with the others," she finally said quietly. "He should have waited."

"That's her," Zander said as they heard the faint honking again. "She made good time."

They left the ice cave again, and found the Roth just moving into position near the ledge again as the door opened when they peered out of the small opening that had gotten colder faster without the others around them. "In the back, big man," Shego growled after Bill transformed back to human flesh, and scrambled into the heated interior without hesitation. "I'm calling shotgun."

"Anything you say, Shego," he smiled knowingly at her as he levered himself into the small space behind the seat.

"Any sign of Hawk," Kim asked as Shego climbed into the front seat after pushing it back into place.

"No. I take it you haven't spotted him either," she asked.

"I've been honking, and flashing the lights all the way down and back, but haven't seen a trace of him," she admitted.

"Not good," Shego grumbled. "He's not going to last long in this weather without his heavy coat."

"And Jade can't find him on IFR. It's just too cold," Kim admitted as Shego closed the door, and they banked away from the mountain again.

"I hope they've got a fire going," Shego told her, her body shivering. "Because even I'm cold, and that's saying something."

"Don't worry. The tent was still up, and they started a fire after Amy got down, so they're fine. We just have to find our missing friend, and then we're good," Kim said grimly.

"So, did you find anything in Japan," Zander asked even as something slammed into the flying car that was straining against the wind sheer in spite of Jade's earlier insistence that she was fine.

"Hawk," Shego shouted, seeing a pale, familiar face as the winged man slid across the hood's icy surface toward a very nasty fall.

"Jade, magnetic restraints!"

"He's still sliding, Kimberly. I can't get a lock on anything solid enough to magnetize….."

"Take control," she shouted, and shoved the door open with both hands even as Shego shouted, "Princess, are you insane," as the redhead jumped up to lean out her open door toward the sliding man.

"Nolan! Give me your hand!"

She reached for his hand, but his cold, stiff fingers only slid out of her grasp, and she howled as he vanished over the bumper of the car as she jumped back into her seat, and quickly took the wheel. "Jade, intercept!"

"I've got him," the AI called. "He's falling just two degrees to our port side," she told her as the car banked violently, and the occupants howled as it seemed it was falling in a straight nosedive into the gray limbo around them as the winds continued to try to drive them back into the side of the icy mountain.

"I see him," Shego shouted, and Jade's powerful thrusters increased speed as they banked around, and tilted to that Hawk slammed into the right side of the car even as Shego opened the window, and grabbed desperately for the man already sliding away again.

"C'mon, bird-boy," she shouted as the nearly unconscious man lay slumped half in and half out of the window. "Get your skinny butt in here."

"Can't….retract…..wings," he groaned as he gasped against the tug on his wings dangling limp and useless from his mostly bare back that looked almost blue from the cold under the shredded remains of his shirt and thin jacket. "Think I….lost my radio, too."

"Just hang on," Kim shouted. "We're going down, and we'll be at the shelter in just a few minutes."

"Everyone…..safe," he asked with a weak grin as he spotted the men in the back seat.

"Everyone is down except us, you loopy moron," Shego snapped. "Why didn't you wait for the storm to break?"

"I don't think he heard you," Zander told her as he noticed Hawk was now completely unconscious.

"You'd better hurry," Shego told Kim. "I think our wannabe hero has just about killed himself here," she said as she clung to the limp body folded half inside her window.

"Just give us a few minutes, and we'll be down," Kim assured her, the car's aerodynamics compromised by the open window, and the body hanging half in and half out of the vehicle.

"We're not going anywhere," Shego assured her, keeping her grip on the too cold man tight as she added, "I hope."

**KP**

Nolan's eyes opened slowly as he realized he was laying under a thick palled of furs, and he was sweating like he was in a sauna.

"You trying to roast me," he groaned weakly, looking at the men and women sitting around him with worried looks. "I'm pretty sure I'd taste lousy."

"Yep, he's fine," Shego growled. "Only someone sure to live could have such a crumby sense of humor."

"Says you," he muttered as Amy came over, and lifted his head to pour a potent homemade tea into his mouth that was nearly scalding on his tongue.

"Don't listen to her. You did a very brave thing," the geneticist assured him. "Drink it all," she added, keeping the cup to his lips. "It'll help you warm up on the inside, too."

"I thought I was pretty much through out there," he admitted, seeing Kim sitting nearby sipping from a cup of her own. "Thanks," he told her.

"Never mind. Are you awake enough to get Kimberly to talk. We're all dying of curiosity, and she won't say nothing until she was sure you were awake to hear, too," Sara complained from where she sat near the fire, wrapped in a blanket.

"Hear what? Oh! Hey, that Japan thing. Did you find something good," Nolan asked, starting to sit up, but finding himself held down by Amy.

"You just stay in bed, young man, and let your body rest. You're not that far from hypothermia, and you need to be careful you don't end up sick," Amy chided him.

"Fine. Fine. Just spill. What was that beacon all about?"

"Hope," Kim finally told them. "My friends heard our distress call. Obviously, something still happened, because, well, here we are."

"On this world anyway," Zander added with a wan smile.

"Indeed," Drew nodded. "More proof that it's likely the grandfather paradox is obviously a legitimate….."

"Can we get to the part where she tells us what happened," Hawk asked from his pallet.

"I'm all for that," Sara agreed.

"Yeah, Kimmie," Shego smiled at her from across the tent where she was feeding small bits of kindling into a fire near their fire in the center of the tent borrowed from the cave dwellers. "Give already. What did you learn?"

"Well, something different did happen. I learned they _were_ prepared. Or, at least preparing for the aliens. But they were also thinking about us. Wade…."

"Her turbo-nerd," Shego explained to those that didn't understand.

"Shego," she grumbled at her.

"Sorry. I assume he left you a message? What did he say? Good luck, and all that?"

"He left more than that. He gave me the locations of five power stations around the planet that were synched to power up, and revive a bunch of volunteers that chose to go into cryo to wait on us to find them. I've activated two stations already, but the next one is farther north, and I can't reach it until this storm breaks. Once it's turned on, two more stations wait, and then the beacon for the resting place of the hibernation chamber is revealed. No, I don't know who they are, or how many, but Wade was apparently in charge, so I'm trusting that this message is legit."

"How do you know it was really him?"

Kim held up the next Kimmunicator. She pressed a button, and a moment later, the young genius' face appeared in the air before them as he said, "_Hello, Kim. Long time no see. Especially for you, I'm guessing if this has reached you…."_

She sat in silence as the message played itself out, and Shego smiled weakly. "I guess your message did reach them."

"So, what's the plan," Drew asked. "We can't all go with you while you trek around the world looking for switches to throw," he realized.

"No, you can't, Drew," she admitted. "So, we're going to split up again."

"Is that really a good idea?"

"Can't be helped," she told Zander. "Not if we're going to do what still needs doing."

"Okay. Who goes where this time," Shego asked.

"Naturally, I'm going after the power stations," she told them. "I'm taking _Sara_ with me."

"_Me_," the pink-haired girl blinked at her in astonishment.

"Her," Shego frowned.

"I have my reasons. Shego, I need you to lead the others once we get you back to the caves where we met our new friends. Keep them safe, and build up our defenses in the event there are more of those things headed our way by now. Which is more than likely since by now they must have realized we already dealt with the ones in this area, and are still….thriving."

"Not to mention we're building up quite the little pre-industrial burg thereabouts. So, you can bet your….freckles they're coming," Shego sighed.

"Drew will help, and, Drew, we really need those upgraded radios, and weapons for everyone now more than ever."

"I understand, Kimberly Anne," he nodded. "I'll get right back on them as soon as we get back. Hopefully, the things we scavenged from that old lab will be as helpful as I envision."

"Good. I know you'll all help as much as you can, and I'll be back as soon as I can. Hopefully with more help," she grinned.

"And what if _you_ need help?"

"I'll have Sara and Jade," Shego asked her bluntly.

Shego eyed her for a moment, her expression trying to decide if she were being mocked or not. "Let me get this straight. You think Pinky, and your little bug is going to keep you skinny butt safe from whatever you end up facing out there?"

"Actually, she's my backup. Don't worry. I do have a plan."

"I remember you always did," Drew nodded sagely.

Shego's expression invited him to remain silent.

"Shego, I am really counting on you. You're probably their best defense in case of surprise attacks. Especially from any new warbots popping up. At least until Drew can ensure we have enough working weapons to rely on."

"Fine. Fine. I'll play bodyguard," she muttered. "But if one of those guys so much as puts a hairy hand on me…"

"Shego," Kim sighed. "Just play nice."

Shego glared.

"Just don't hurt anyone. Remember, just now, they're the future of our species."

"God help us all."

Only Kim smiled at her.

_To Be Continued….. _


	15. Chapter 15

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**LJ58**

**15**

"So, how am _I_ supposed to help you if something...serious comes up," Surge asked as they flew away from the others the next morning. Both of them knew Shego had not been happy about it, but Kim was adamant, and they had gone. Not before Shego yelled at her, and spent a full five minutes glaring at the redhead without saying a word.

She wouldn't let her go. She kept stopping her. She just didn't say a word by then. She only glared.

In the end, Kim had rolled her eyes, and climbed into Jade, and told Sara to get in.

Now they were flying off, the sky clear and blue, the ground blanketed in thick, fresh snow. "You should have just brought Shego. She wanted to go. Even I could see that. I'm probably one of the most useless people you could have picked. Well, other than Henry."

"Shego... Well, we're going to have work on things. Still, you may come in handy more than you realize," Kim told her as she checked her new Kimmunicator, confirmed the next beacon was still operating, and that Jade had it pinpointed on her own GPS that still functioned thanks to the few satellites still in orbit that were still working well enough to bounce signals off for the time being.

Time, or the Lorwardians, had obviously thinned out all the other satellites and orbital devices long before Kim had even woke up.

Whatever had caused that weird interference during the storm was over, though, and they now had completely clear radio frequencies, and signal detection that third morning as they departed from the growing settlement where she had left the others.

The new settlement had grown, too. A large wall over fifteen feet high now surrounded the nearly seven stone shelters that had been raised up, and the caverns were being used as a larder now as the men increased their hunting, too, and were obviously starting to make long-range plans of their own. With their weapons added to the Lorwardian bots converted to auto-defenders, things were looking far more promising. At least, for the immediate future.

In short, humanity was starting to come alive again. Now, they just had to survive long enough to reclaim their planet.

"How," the pink-haired girl pouted as Kim considered what they faced. "Not that I don't mind the excuse to get away from that cave-horndog, but….I don't see me being much practical use."

"Try this on," Kim simply told her as she held out a hand. "I reprogrammed it last night, so it should work on you now."

"A watch," she frowned as she took the slender band.

"No. It's my old battle armor. You saw me use it before, didn't you?"

"Really? You're giving _this_ to me?"

"I figure, what with your bio-electric power, you might be able to use it to amp its abilities, and be a real asset in case we do run into trouble. Besides, I may need your electrical enhancement ability before we're done. I really had to work to get that second station up and running in spite of the shields my friends left to protect it. Even then, it was pretty close. I figure if you had been there, I never would have had any trouble."

"If it's that tech stuff, wouldn't Drew have been better," she asked honestly. "Or...Shego?"

"It wasn't repairs I needed. It was a steady current. I'm guessing if I have trouble with the other three power stations, it will be the same situation. Wade seems to have built things pretty well, but the generators are still pretty old, and they might need a _jumpstart_."

"Oh. I get it. I'm your power bunny," she grimaced sourly.

"Exactly," Kim grinned, and winked as Sara studied the band in her hands. "Besides, I'm not blind. I thought you might want to get away from the _furballs_ back there," she said lightly, using one of Shego's milder terms for their cousins.

"Yeah," she admitted. "But…..I'm kind of scared I might already be pregnant," she blurted out.

"It's only been a few weeks," she pointed out after a moment.

"Yeah, like that matters. Let's face it, when was the last time any of us had any contraception?"

Kim frowned at her bald statement.

"Good point," she admitted quietly.

"Kim? What if I am? I mean...having a baby...? I don't know if I'm ready. If I'll ever be ready. If...?"

Kim reached out and put a hand on her clenched fist resting on her thigh. "Sara, none of us are ever ready for what life throws at us. None of us. I learned a long time ago, though, that if friends, or family, stick together, we can get through anything."

"But I don't have any... Anyone," she choked.

"Yes, you do. You have me, and the others. We're all friends now. Maybe family, too, considering. Don't worry. Whatever happens," she gave her a light smile. "We'll all be right there helping you. You'll be fine. I promise."

Sara gave a watery smile.

"And, just think, you'll be the first mother of a new start for Mankind. Who knows what that child might do? Or be?"

Sara smiled. "Because I've done such great things," she sighed.

"You will, Sara. And like I said, you have a new family. New friends. We'll make sure you _both_ have a chance to be great. Count on it."

"Shego was right," she murmured.

"Oh?"

"You just don't know how to give up," Sara said with a faint sniff, and stared at the hand on her own.

Kim slowly squeezed that hand, then put her hand back on the wheel, though it was unnecessary. "I just really do like to think that anything is possible..."

"For a Possible," Sara queried.

"For anybody. So long as they keep trying."

"I just...never thought I'd be..."

"Don't worry. If it helps, think of what you've already survived. All of it. That should tell you just how strong you really are," she told the pink-haired girl whose hair had yet to fade, which suggested it might just be her real color.

Sara sighed, glanced down at the icy expanse below then, then looked at the band she had just held since being offered the wrist Kimmunicator.

"So, how does this work?"

"First, just put it on your wrist."

She nodded, slid it over her left hand, and pressed the clasp in place to tighten it. "Doesn't really go with the whole deerskin look," she said with a smirk, holding up her hand. "Does it?"

Kim chuckled. "Well, it's not like we have any more of our own clothes ourselves. Yet. Okay, now, if you want to just use it to communicate, press the top right toggle on the side. That opens a channel with me, or Jade that is likely better than the transceiver. You can reach either of us almost anytime with this," she told her. "If I beep you, you also press it to answer me."

"Cool," she said.

"If you want to switch on the body armor, you press the two back toggles at the same time. FYI. The nano-suit enhances your reflexes, strength, and general speed. If your amping power works on it, too, it may increase its abilities even beyond the normal parameters, which are already pretty high."

"Sweet," she grinned. "I'll have _super_ powers! Uh, other super powers."

"Just remember, you're still human underneath, so don't push yourself too hard. Eventually, you turn it off, and when you do, you get to keep all the aches, pains, strains, and tears you gained while you were doing…..whatever. So it's a good idea not to do more than you usually do without the armor. Me, I've always been flexible, and I'm used to pushing myself. I kind of doubt you are, yet, so be careful."

"That really just took the fun out of a whole lot of what I was imaging," Sara complained.

"Get yourself in better shape, and learn to increase your flexibility. Then you can push yourself like I do," Kim told her. "This is more for your defense, though, than anything else right now. Just in case your admirer decides he still can't take no for an answer."

"Oh. Oh, well...thanks, Kim. Seriously, thanks. So, after I switch it on, how do I…..?"

"Press the bottom right switch twice to deactivate the armor. It's all nannite driven, so it shuts itself off, just like it switches itself on when you signal the activation."

"Okay, what's this one," she pointed to the one button on the bottom of the watch face.

"That one…..you don't need."

"Top secret, huh," Sara pressed her lightly, obviously still not comfortable with saying much of her assault. Even if the jerk had apparently paid since he was the one those bots had apparently killed that day he went out doing...whatever.

"No. It's just the switch for talking to Wade. Only he's not going to be around now, so you wouldn't be reaching anyone."

"Oh. Oh, so…..he was like...your friend in the message?"

"Yeah. My tech buddy, my friend, and….someone I really miss."

"Were you…..close?"

Kim chortled as Jade banked around a suddenly flight of birds that surprised Kim, since she wouldn't have expected to see any just now.

"No. He was like….ten when I first met him. I was already fourteen. He was just….a real good friend. And he probably did more to keep me alive in my early days than anyone else. Well, next to Ron."

"Okay, he's the monkey ninja. _Him,_ I know. He busted me good the one time we met."

"Yeah, Ron is….. Was…..a good friend. We grew up together. We even almost married."

"You? And the ninja? Radical. So, what happened?"

"We just went different paths," she told the girl quietly. "I still miss him, though. He made me laugh," she smiled.

"And Shego?"

"Still makes me want to beat her senseless at the best of times. But...she can make me smile, too," Kim blurted out without thinking.

"So, you guys are…..like….close?"

Kim realized what she was saying. "Us? No. No, no, no. We just…. We fought each other a lot from the start. We teamed up a few times toward the end, but we were never…. We were kind of friendly enemies, if you can believe that."

"Still sounds a lot like denial," Surge smirked, eyeing the silver band on her wrist before she put her hand down. "My girlfriend was the same way before we finally got together. At the time, even we had not realized what we meant to each other for a while, though."

"What happened to her?"

Sara said nothing for a while. "I….don't know," she finally admitted, looking out the window at the endless snowscape below them as they flew over the world.

"Oh. Right," Kim grimaced, realizing she had just stepped into another mine field.

"The bad thing about all this? I just went out to get her a gift for her birthday. Just that, and I ended up getting caught up in Sonique's then latest rumble with GJ. They scooped me up in the chaos, thought I was one of her Henches, and no one would believe I was keeping my nose clean. Before I could blink, I was on a shuttle to the moon, and going nighty-night without even seeing a lawyer. Jana probably didn't even know what happened to me," she sniffed.

"I'm sorry," Kim told her.

"What I don't get, is how _you_ ended up here. I mean, even I grew up listening to stories about the great Kim Possible, and how you once saved the world on a daily basis. How did you get on that harpy's bad side?"

"I turned down her job offer," Kim told her, noting they were closing on the signal. "In Betty's eyes….. Eye. That was the same as declaring I was about to go to work for Henchco. She ambushed me, literally, and by the time I woke up, it was five hundred years later."

"Wow. What a bitch," Sara muttered darkly.

"That is one way to put it," Kim admitted. "I used to admire her. Now I wonder if she weren't the greater threat to the world all along."

"I know a thousand or so dead prisoners that could tell you the answer to that one," Sara told her quietly.

"Yeah," Kim nodded, thinking of all the dead they had left behind on the moon. People that would never get a second chance. Never wake up. Then the computer chirped, and she glanced around to see a high, flat plateau covered by thick snow just ahead of them.

"Looks like we're here. Jade, can you do a sonar scan, and find a way into wherever we need to go?"

"Already scanning, Kimberly. I've got an echo location pinging off the active beacon. It's halfway down the side of the cliff on the west face, and it looks like it's about twenty meters inside the face. Only the tunnel is too small for me. You'll have to go in on your own. I'm sorry, but I can't even get you close. Area turbulence is too bad along that side."

"All right. Park on top the plateau if it's stable enough. Looks like we'll have to do this the old fashioned way," she said with a grin.

"Why are you smiling at that?"

"I guess I did miss some of the fun I used to have doing things like this," she grinned as Jade maneuvered to the top of the plateau, and settled well away from the edge after declaring the surface stable enough to hold them.

"You're nuts," Sara told her.

"Trust me. It's going to be fun. Besides, now is your chance to get a feel for the suit."

"Does it have heating?"

"No."

Sara sighed. "You know, I've been freezing since we woke up. Why couldn't we have woke up to a warm world? Nice, sunny tropics? Something like that?"

"It could have been worse," Kim told her. "The big green invaders could have still been here."

"I was wondering about that," Sara said as the Roth slowed, and landed atop the snowy plateau, sinking down in only five inches of snow. Apparently the winds had blown away most of the rest recently, or it might have been deeper. "What if they come back?"

"Then we'll fight them."

The young teen stared at her.

"Just like that," she squeaked.

"It's what I do," she smiled, and switched on her own battle suit.

"Now, that is cool," she grinned, watching the nannites flow over Kim's GJ jumpsuit she still wore under her parka.

She pressed the switch on her own battle armor, and stared as the silver liquid flowed over her arm, spreading fast as it encompassed her body, and then somehow solidified into a single, one-piece jumpsuit under her own hide dress, and coat.

"Most of the attachments are cybernetically activated," Kim explained as she left the car, leading Sara, who kept her heavier furred cloak around her belted as she felt the wind and chill almost at once. Kim had left her parka in the car, and said nothing about her suit's heated insulation.

"So, I just think about it?"

"Exactly. Like grapples, and stealth, which you shouldn't need. Or, ice claws," she said, holding up her gloved hands that just sprouted thick, metal spikes on her hands and fingers.

"Ready?"

Sara stared at the cliff's edge, grimaced, then looked at her hand, thinking hard about spikes like Kim's. To her astonishment, they sprang out, even crowning her booted toes, and padded knees.

"Just remember to dig in without kicking, or hitting too hard. You might shatter the ice and cause a landslide. I'll go first," Kim told her, and just turned, and stepped backward over the edge, her hands flashing out, and catching the ice almost two feet down before she slid to a stop, and began to descend in a more controlled fashion.

"Good God, I think you just stopped my heart," Sara shrieked as she rushed to look down, seeing Kim already several feet below her.

"Now you sound like Ron," Kim laughed. "Hang with me, Sara, and you'll get the feel for it soon enough."

"Like I'd want to get used to that," she grimaced, and more guardedly lowered herself down to scrabble at the icy and slick rock as she followed Kim down.

"So, how far down is this cave?"

"We have about forty feet to climb down, then another twenty or thirty feet to descend into the tunnel, or so I'm judging by Jade's scans. If there's nothing in the way, it should be a picnic."

"You and I have different ideas about what makes a picnic," Sara complained, her pink hair blowing out behind her as she focused on the rocky cliff before her, not even trying to look down. No way was she going to even think about looking down.

Kim only laughed. "If Shego were here, she'd be racing me to the tunnel."

"Then you're _both_ nuts," Surge retorted.

"How did you even get into the biz," Kim finally asked after a few minutes of silence, glancing up to notice Sara was starting to get restless, and increasingly nervous as her movements got jerkier.

"I was stupid. I was working in some lab. Janitor stuff," she admitted. "It was a part time gig to make money for…. a personal concern," she said, not realizing Kim was just distracting her. "Anyway, I went into this one lab to clean up, and some jerk had left an extension cord stretched across the floor that was hooked up to all these machines he had left on. I noticed that fact like about two seconds after I had tripped over it, and the bucket of mop water I was pushing tipped over, and barbecued me."

"Well, you obviously didn't die."

"No. I woke up like a week later, and found out I could serious juice up any machinery around me just by focusing current through myself to do it. At first, I was really bummed. I felt like a freak."

"I can understand that," Kim told her.

"Then my uncle, a real loser, figured out I could pop ATMs like piggy banks if I shorted them. The way he explained it somehow convinced me to give it a try. The short version is that I got busted, and he went to Mexico with the cash."

"Now _that_ tanks."

"Tell me about it. I got out on parole, and tried my best to keep my nose clean. But sometimes, my…..surges kind of happened on their own before I learned to fully control them. I got busted again for accidentally making a coke machine spill change like a fountain. No one believed it was an accident after the way I had been duped into helping Uncle Charlie. Afterward, it kind of made it hard to get, or keep a job. Forget school. I even tried some henching, but that didn't work very well, either. Which is all I'll say about that one. Anyway, I was still on parole, like I said, when I got scooped up by the storm-troopers in blue that night they grabbed me."

"That really tanks. So you're only here because of a misunderstanding," Kim said, and guided her into the small mouth of a narrow cave.

"Yeah. That's about the whole... Hey! We're here already?"

Kim grinned. "It's always easier when you don't think about it," she told her.

"Well," the girl grinned. "One thing I do know."

"Yeah, what's that," Kim asked as she brought down a visor from her virtual HUD headpiece that gave her night vision as she started forward.

"If you hadn't been with us, we'd probably all be dead by now. You've saved our butts more than once since we woke up."

"I think it's been mutual," Kim protested.

"No. It's been you. All the way. And…..I just want to say… Ow!"

"Ow?"

"Sorry, I ran into something," she said, and waved her hands around.

"Oh, sorry. Think about night vision, and your headgear should activate."

"Hey, everything's green. But I can see. This is so cool."

"My friend Wade invented it. He had a lot of rockin' ideas."

"He must have made a fortune inventing stuff like this," she told Kim as she followed her with more ease now as the narrow tunnel turned right, then began to slope downward.

"Heel spikes," Kim suggested, feeling the slick ice beneath her feet.

"Gotcha," she said, the ice crunching under their boots as they moved deeper into the cave.

"Anyway, Wade just liked to help me help people. I think he lived vicariously through me, and it kind of gave him a thrill knowing he was helping me do things he never could."

"So, he was secretly crushing on you?"

"Wade? No!"

"C'mon, Kimberly," she huffed. "No guy of any age is going to invent all these sweet toys, and just hand them over to you without a word if he's not seriously Jonesin' on you."

"Well, he never said a word. And I think he had his own girlfriend the last I heard."

"But I'll bet he never forgot you. I mean, we're doing this now because of you, right? I mean, he did this for you, knowing you were way out of reach, but he still did all this? That says something, Kim."

"I suppose. I don't know. He never said…."

"Well, back to what _I_ was about to say," Surge told her when Kim fell silent. "Is thanks. And I'm sure the others feel the same."

"Even Shego," Kim mused after a moment.

"Especially Shego. We all know she's repressed, or something, though."

"Repressed? Shego," Kim sniggered.

"Well... In some things," Sara suggested.

"Hold on. Looks like we're coming to a…drop," she said, and paused to look down, seeing something gleaming far below them.

"I think we're here," Sara told her as Kim pulled a powerful mini-light out of her equipment pouch only then to shine down into the pit.

"Why didn't you use that before?"

"Battery life is still limited. I didn't want to waste it," she said, eyeing the cavern just twenty feet below them.

"How do we get down?"

"Grapple," Kim said, and fired a bolt at the far wall. "And I'm carrying you this time. There is going to be a magnetic envelope around the equipment below, and only my biometric signature will let us pass through it. So you better hang on tight."

"Consider me glued," Sara assured her, wrapping her arms around her as Kim wrapped one arm about the girl as her other remained extended at the end of the grabble line she had fired.

"Ready," Kim grinned.

"Wait. So, how are we going to….?"

Sara's howl was deafening as it echoed around them even as Kim swung through the darkness, bounced off the far wall, and repelled downward in one swift, smooth motion.

"That brings back memories," she grinned as she let Sara go at the bottom.

Only she remained wrapped tightly around her side.

"You can let go now. Hard ground. See," she said, stomping the smooth, rocky floor.

The girl stared at her in genuine disbelief. "You are definitely nuts, Kim. _Definitely_ nuts."

They walked around the large, cavernous chamber, looking around the lifeless machinery as a faint hum sounded in the air around them.

"If the computers are off, what's that sound," Sara finally asked as Kim searched for the main power breaker similar to the others she had found.

"Electro-magnetic envelope. It kept everything safe, and in relative stasis all this time."

"But what powered it," the pink-haired girl asked with a frown as Kim looked around, seeking the primary controls.

"Something Wade and I came up with together. A static-motion charge akin to perpetual motion. Not quite the same, though, but close enough to work."

"You just do not live in the world I know….. Knew," Sara complained.

Kim only chuckled, then stopped, and looked up. "There."

"TP?"

"Team Possible. It's Ron's mark. He used to call us Team Possible. Before we split up," she sighed, and approached the smaller, simpler console.

"So, what do we do?"

"This one looks okay. We should just need to….."

Kim pulled the lever, and the air thrummed with the sound of starting machinery, and the hum of electronics whirring to life.

"Number three is online," she grinned, and lifted her left wrist. "And there's beacon number four. It looks like somewhere in the Siberian Peninsula."

"That sounds cold," she groaned. "Colder."

"It probably is." She logged the beacon, then called, "Jade, can you hear me?"

"Just barely. You must have something down there interfering with the signal, Kimberly."

"Do you have the fourth beacon online yet?"

"I'm tracking it now," the AI told her.

"Good. We're coming up. This station is online."

"Good. I'll be waiting. I trust your protégé is doing all right?"

"She's doing just fine," Kim grinned as she glanced at the younger girl.

"That bad," Jade chortled in a very good imitation of Shego's tone.

"Ha, ha," Sara muttered. "Let's just go. I'm already missing the others."

"Ready for the ride up," Kim asked without commenting on that one.

"Ride?"

"Magnetic shielding. Remember," Kim asked, holding out her arm. "I'm not sure if you could pass through it even wearing my battle armor. So we had better buddy-up again."

"Is that why you gave this suit to me," she asked.

"That, and you really seemed to need an edge."

"Why not Henry? He could have used it more than me."

"But I needed you."

"It doesn't seem so."

"We're not finished yet, Sara. And I like to plan accordingly. Now, let's go. We might be able to just get to Siberia before nightfall if we get moving."

"Oh, goody. Siberia at nightfall….. Hey, are you _sweating?"_

"Guess I'm just excited," she grinned, and lifted her free arm after hugging Sara to her side again to fire a grapple. "Hang on," she laughed, and Sara shrieked as the suddenly retracting grapple carried them up so fast it seemed they were flying.

_To Be Continued….._


	16. Chapter 16

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**LJ58**

**16 **

They were high in the mountains of Peru as Kim threw the final switch after Surge had finally amped up enough power from the old generator to power the startup of the computers controlling the power station.

The Siberian cave had ironically been underwater in a submerged cavern, and had it not been for Jade, they never would have reached it. Still, there had not been any problems, aside from using Jade's laser-headlights to drill into the thick ice to get under the ocean, and into the cavern beyond that was thankfully above the water level. Afterward, they had soon been on their way again.

Once they headed southeast to their next location, they found a quake, or something had damaged the station in Peru. Hours of hard work rewiring the remaining gear had her crossing her fingers as Sara had finally fired up her powers through the generator, and then the overhead lights began to flicker to life, along with the computers.

"It's working," Kim grinned, hugging her after Sara staggered back, obviously weak from her own effort. "It's working!"

"Thank…..God," the obviously weary teen smiled weakly. "I think…..I'm actually…tapped out."

Kim grinned, hugged her again, and then lifted her wrist.

"Well?"

"I'm not seeing anything," Kim frowned as Sara eyed her.

"Maybe…..it takes time?"

"Jade, do you have anything on your sensors," she called to the car outside the cavern on the wide ledge where they had landed.

"Nothing, Kim. But remember, the satellites aren't exactly reliable just now. We might just be out of position this far south."

"Right. I didn't think of that. Well, we're done here. We'll be back up soon, and we'll try to find a signal the old fashioned way."

"We're going hunting," Jade asked.

"Absolutely."

"Give me….a minute," Sara asked when Kim looked to where she now sat huddled on the cold ground.

"Sara, are you all right," she frowned.

"Just….weak. I really put a lot into that one. It's always….harder….when I _creating_ a current, rather than just….channeling one."

"Are you saying…."

"Yeah. Like I said. I'm a freaking battery," she grimaced.

"Right now, you might just be the savior of the human race, Sara," Kim told her, and offered her a hand. "Let's get out of here."

Sara took the hand, and staggered weakly alongside her, glad to reach the car where she sat down heavily, and soon fell asleep.

"Don't worry, Kim," Jade told her. "My sensors only indicate severe exhaustion. She'll be fine with rest."

"Let's call the others, and tell them how we're doing," Kim told Jade as she climbed into the car after buckling Sara into her own seat.

"Not from here. I've got that strange interference again, and I can't seem to reach the others. Even though, this time, I'm sure the satellite I projected would be nearby should be in place. I'm just not sure why we can't reach them."

"I noticed that interference does seem to come and go at odd moments. Like during that storm last week," she remarked as Jade rose from the cliff, and took to the skies once more.

"Yes. I have noted that, too. I believe it may be artificial in origin. The interference, that is."

"Artificial. Sporadic. Just like the storms. Jade, it has to be coming from a satellite."

"That would be a viable theory," the AI agreed as they flew north, studying the GPS grid for any trace of any signal that might show.

"Let's head back to the others," she decided. "We can't do anything else till I track the final signal, and I have an idea. Only I'm going to need some special gear to check out my theory."

"Calculating the course now, Kim," Jade informed her. "We'll be back home in….seventy-four minutes at top speed."

"Home," Kim sighed. "Think you can manage? I think Sara has the right idea. I am pretty worn out myself. Time for a nap while I can take one."

"I can manage our flight easily enough. Auto-pilot engaged. Relax, Kim. You're in good hands."

Kim chuckled.

"Proverbially speaking."

"I may have to change that someday. You're a real lifesaver, Jade."

"I'm happy to be of service," the AI informed her as Kim's eyes drifted closed.

**KP**

"Look, it's Kim," Amy pointed out as Shego looked up from the makeshift game of checkers she was playing with the woman with pebbles on a flat stone she had carved by hand.

The game seemed to fascinate many of their new companions, and more than a few watched them play whenever they had the time, or the chance. Some even tried to play when Shego wasn't using the board. Their games, however, still inevitably descended into some very heated wrestling matches when they didn't get the results they obviously wanted.

Unless, of course, Shego was playing. No one seemed to want to risk 'Pof's' wrath.

Shego turned to see the little, purple blight on Detroit fly down over the skeletal trees to hover over their much altered homestead, and gradually lower to park near the largest shelter that Shego made her own, sharing it with Amy.

Drew had also put his equipment, and makeshift lab inside, and was almost always working in the back of the 'house' when he wasn't dragged off to eat, or rest. In that respect, she noted, he had not really changed much.

She found herself grinning at seeing the Roth settle to the ground after Kim had been gone for almost three days this time. She walked over to the car, and almost laughed when she realized both women inside were slumped back in their seats, fast asleep.

Opening the door, she impulsively reached in and tickled Kim's nose.

The redhead sputtered, waved a hand clumsily before her, and tried to turn away.

"Wake up, Possible, and tell us what happened," she demanded, making the redhead shriek, come alive, and almost vault out of her seat.

Only to be stopped by her seatbelt, almost choking herself as Sara woke more sedately, looking around in confusion as Shego laughed at her antics.

"We're back," she frowned, scowling up at the grinning woman standing next to her.

"Obviously, Pinky. How'd you guys do, Princess? Tell me you have good news for a change?"

"Good news, and bad news," Kim yawned as she undid her belt to climb out, scowling at Shego as she did.

Who scowled back as she retorted, "I think I've said I really hate it when you say that?"

"Where's Drew?"

"Likely in the workroom still trying to build a weather machine," she snorted, knowing full well that was part of his current obsession after he finished up with the radios and weapons that were as good as they were going to get.

"Any sign of any new warbots?"

"Not yet."

"We didn't see any while we were out either. Apparently, they're staying close to the other population centers located overseas. We really do need to take them out next. Just now, though, we have another issue."

"Let me guess…."

"We may have a complication. Did you have any….radio interference while I was gone?"

"Funny you should mention that," Amy said as she joined them as the two women climbed out of Jade.

"Where are the guys?"

"Likely off hunting with the others just now. With housing not really a concern now, they're really into stuffing their caverns as full of food as they can," Amy told her. "That, and most of the guys like to get away from Shego's 'classes' whenever they can."

"Classes," Kim frowned.

"I'm trying to teach these wannabe primates a few basic rules. Like no touching the merchandise without permission. That kind of thing," Shego huffed as she glanced surreptitiously at Sara.

"Some rules have been more readily accepted than others," Amy said with a faint smile. "Depending on the group."

Kim nodded.

"Well, I really need to see Drew."

"What? Just tell us what's going on now? Don't tell me you couldn't find all the….?"

"We found all the stations. And they're all up, and running. That's the good news," Kim told the women. "That interference, though? I think it's interfering with the final beacon. Maybe even interfering with the signal getting through at all. But I think I've figured it out."

"Yeah," Shego asked.

"A satellite," Drew said as he walked out of the nearby structure just then, holding a small device in his hand he was toying with.

"Exactly," Kim nodded. "But I think it's doing more than just interfering with our signals. I think it's the source of the weird, freakish storms we've been having that probably created this ice age in the first place."

"So….you're saying there's a floating weather machine in orbit that is turning the planet cold, and knocking out any radio signals, too?"

Kim glanced over at Sara.

"I doubt it's just a weather machine. Likely it was just a device that set up a high-intensity ion-shield around the planet, and its orbit keeps the shield circling with it, which causes the unstable weather activity."

"Ion-shield," Sara and Amy both frowned. "How does that make weather?"

"The ion shield, like our ozone layer, would reflect any solar heat from the planet's atmosphere, preventing it from warming the globe. Even a randomly orbiting shield would eventually cause long-term freezing, and create an unstable atmosphere."

"And this ice age," Sara frowned.

"Exactly. I think they left far more than those warbot guardians behind. I think they left that satellite, and we have to find it, and nullify it. Only I'm positive they likely left it defended, too. Or, at least, capable of protecting itself, so we need something to knock it out without endangering us when we find it."

"So, you're flying back into space," Shego asked.

"I have to go. It's the only way. We have to knock out the radio interference, and maybe even end this cold spell," she said as she looked up at the still gray sky.

"I'm going with you, then," Shego told her.

Kim started to speak.

"No arguments, Princess. Not this time. No one else has the kind of experience at this thing than me. Well, and you. But let's face it, I'm next in line here."

Kim gave a faint smirk, and only nodded.

"We'll need full air tanks," she told the green-skinned woman. "We'll have to rig a way to fill them. We also need some offensive capability, just in case, to handle whatever might be up there. Jade can fire low-grade lasers from her headlights now, but that won't be enough against anything carrying Lorwardian armor."

"I think I have just the thing," Drew said, his eyes lit up again as he turned, and ran back into the stone house.

"So, how has he been doing?"

"Working like a madman again. Except for the noticeable, and appreciable lack of ranting, he's almost himself again now that he has a makeshift lab to tinker with in here. He has been complaining that we need to get more equipment from the shuttle, _and_ the bunker. I've kept him from going off alone, though. So far. It helps that he can't fly the hover-thingy alone."

"Smart. We can worry about the rest later. For now, finishing Wade's startup is more important. There are people out there relying on us. We can't let them down. Not now," Kim murmured.

Shego only nodded, seeing the exhaustion in those green eyes, and guessing Kim was still pushing herself way too hard.

"I'll go sort out the suits, and the tanks. See if any have any air left, and how much. Maybe we can bleed off what is left into a few tanks to top off the ones we need. That will save trying to fill them up from scratch," Shego suggested.

"Good idea," Kim nodded absently, her mind obviously already wandering again.

"You're actually…..going back up there," Sara asked them uneasily.

Kim only smiled.

"It won't exactly be the first time. I've been into space several times now. No offense, but you'd better stay behind this time, though."

"No problem," Sara told her, and looked toward Amy. "Maybe I can find something to do here while you….."

She waved helplessly.

"Let me guess," Shego grinned. "You freaked her out."

"She's convinced we're both nuts," Kim told Shego as Amy led the still tired girl toward their new house to show her around their living quarters.

"What happened?"

"Hardly anything," Kim sputtered. "We had to scale a cliff, and then I had to carry her when we repelled down an open vertical shaft a few hundred feet. Then we drilled into the ice under the ocean. Oh, and we have to clear a cavern after a mild quake, and... Well, honestly, it was nothing."

Shego grinned.

"Sounds like you had fun," Shego murmured.

"That's what I thought. Sara isn't very adventurous, though," she said. "I kind of feel sorry for her."

"Pinky?"

"She told me how they caught her."

"Let me guess. Zapping machinery, or something again?"

"No. Shopping for her girlfriend's birthday present. Only Sonique chose to attack the mall she was in at the time, and GJ snatched her up thinking she was involved. Apparently, they didn't ask questions when they shoved her in the freezer."

Shego did scowl now.

"That's low even for Cyclops."

"Yeah. Real low. To think, I did used to admire her," Kim sighed.

"We all make mistakes," Shego told her. "Listen, Kim..."

"Hey, you're back," Zander shouted as he came into the open gates just then carrying a heavy spear, and a laser rifle slung over his shoulder. "How did it go?"

"Good news, and bad news," she said, and then looked back to Shego. "Yeah," she asked.

"Later," she said as the hunting party came in just then, carrying three large elk on poles as the women streamed out to join them, everyone obviously cheering to see Kim back with them.

"Sure," Kim nodded, and nodded toward the house. "I'd better go see what Drew has in mind anyway."

"I'll check on the spacesuits, and those tanks," she said, and headed for the small heap of gear still piled in the hovercraft yet covered with the heavy canvas that they had used as a tent.

**KP**

"These guys know how to throw a feast, don't they," Kim said as they sat around a large fire as one of the elk was roasted whole over an open fire-pit that would have never been built outside the caverns before the 'Pof' had come.

"Well, I can see why they're all simple," Shego muttered. "Pretty much protein only diet, and nothing but hard, brutal work to survive? We have to change that. We also need to be a bit firmer with the ground rules. I managed to figure out most of them pretty much live by the 'might is right' rulebook, and that goes for the guys. Not the girls."

"Guess we put a real wrench in that one, then," Kim smirked as he noted more than a few of the men did tend to look uneasily their way. One in question, however, still eyed Sara pointedly.

"That furball the one that...?"

"No. I am guessing he's a cousin, or something. From what Sara said, the rapist went outside soon after...molesting her. Which was when the warbot apparently grabbed him. That was why they were so antsy when we showed up. Still, apparently being related to the big guy who was in charge makes that one think he can...take the spoils, as it were."

"Right. Like I said," Shego huffed. "I'm still working on setting a few basic ground rules here. They know not to screw with me. I honestly think Amy likes one of them. Why, I can't say. But like you said, furball there... I don't think he's gotten the message that Pinky isn't interested. Not yet."

"Social evolution isn't exactly my forte," Kim sighed. "Give me someone, or something to punch..."

"Not everything has to be a fight," Shego told her. "You taught me that one."

Kim cleared her throat as she realized Shego was staring at her. Hard.

"Uh, Shego...?"

"I need to talk to you, Kimmie," she finally said.

"Okay? Is there trouble with the suits? Did the tanks..."

"Look," Shego scowled, and reached for a clay bowl filled with a very potent drink brought out just for this night.

"Yeah?"

"Whoa, these guys make killer beer. Or whatever this is supposed to be."

"Shego?"

Shego took another drink.

"Try it," she grinned crookedly, and set the bowl to her lips after a grinning women in thick fur refilled it for them.

Kim sputtered, choked, but gulped down the fermented beverage.

Shego grinned at her expression.

"Wanna dance," she asked abruptly.

"Huh?"

She gestured to where some of the women danced about wildly, in total abandon, as men pounded drums, or played crude flutes.

"Dance. Let's show them how it's done. Unless you're chicken?"

Kim gulped a third drink, wiped her lips, and said, "Oh, you're on."

The pair jumped up as one, and both sides watched as the pair danced to their own rhythm, eyes fixed solely on one another. Even when most of the women paired off with the men they had been enticing, the two women remained in their own company, and eventually passed out after too much drink, and too much exertion.

Drew wisely had Zander and Bill take them to their beds, knowing you did not want either woman waking up in the wrong circumstances. He might not know much about women in general, but he knew they could both be dangerous if they woke in a bad mood.

Especially Shego!

**KP**

"That….is a satellite," Shego sputtered as they flew slowly behind the massive, metal platform easily the size of the old space station NASA once put into orbit just two days later after their preparations were complete.

There was no sign of that station any longer, but there was still a lot of wreckage in orbit. Enough to camouflage their approach after Jade had calculated the patterns of interference, and figured out where to intercept the Lorwardian satellite.

"Not so much a satellite, as a floating deflector shield," Kim realized, noting the massive solar mirrors on the large platform. "Ion-shield. Remember? Just as we guessed."

"Okay, so why aren't we blasting it," she demanded, Jade now equipped with twin blue lasers mounted on her front and rear bumpers.

"One, if it's like any other Lorwardian device, it won't react until it senses us, or we attack it."

"Isn't that what we're going to do," Shego complained as she wrestled with her spacesuit's helmet still held in her lap.

In full gear, crammed into the car, they didn't have a lot of room to maneuver, which was why Jade was controlling their flight while Kim focused on the job in front of them.

"Yes. But I'm rethinking something here."

"What? Don't tell me you're changing your mind when you were obviously right about that thing being the source of our problems," Shego complained.

"No. No, we definitely have to put it out of commission. The thing is, I'm wondering if we can't make it work _for_ us."

"Yeah, because asking nice will be sure to do the job," Shego grumbled as she considered the sheer size of the platform supporting the huge solar mirrors.

"Did you see that?"

"What," the green-skinned woman complained.

"There. That bit of space junk floated right up to, and bounced off its side without any reaction."

"So?"

"I'm thinking I could do the same thing. Float up to it, and…."

"Are you insane," Shego almost howled, nearly deafening herself in the small space.

"No. Listen, Shego. I'm betting the programming node is similar to the other tech we recovered from Lorwardian machines. If I get the chance, I could shut it down, reprogram it, and turn those mirrors so that it will help heat up the planet instead of cooling it. At least, warm it long enough to get rid of the artificial ice age cooling us down now."

Shego just stared at her.

"You're not going to let me talk you out of this. Are you?"

Kim only smiled.

"So, then...? What's the plan. Other than suicide," the green-skinned woman complained.

"First, no suicide. I want to live, too, Shego. We still have a lot to do. Remember, there are a lot of people out there somewhere still waiting on us to find them, and wake them up."

"Obviously. Beyond that, how do you think getting on that platform will help you? The moment you go for the brain, or whatever…. It might just react. Then what?"

"That's where you come in. I want you and Jade to watch from a distance. Anything happens, and you take out any defensive movements with the lasers. Just try not to hit anything….too critical."

"Critical," she sputtered. "Listen, Princes…."

"I believe I've identified the control module, Kim," Jade cut in. Considering your observations, I calculate better than a sixty-three percent chance of success."

"Sixty-three," Shego huffed. "Is that all?"

"There are a lot of unknown variables to consider," Jade huffed in a remarkably familiar tone that made Shego scowl at the dash housing the AI.

"Are you mocking me, Christmas Tree," she called the AI.

"Far be it from me to mock you, Light Bulb," she drawled, proving she had been overhearing some of their conversations.

"Light…Bulb..."

Shego's strangled growl was cut off by Kim clamping her helmet in place.

"Not the time, or the place," Kim chided them both. "We have a job to do."

"Wait," Shego demanded, and knocked on her helmet. "Take that off a minute."

"What is it," Kim frowned at her, her hands already on the locking lever for the helmet.

"Just take it off," Shego demanded sternly.

Kim sighed, rolling her eyes, but pulled the helmet off.

"I….. Just in case…. I tried to tell you...last night. Now... Look, I just want to say…."

"Shego?"

"You know what everyone is saying. I just wanted to…."

"She wishes to admit that she cares for you, and wants you to be careful," Jade cut in.

"Can you turn that thing off," Shego scowled, blushing a dark green as Kim just stared at her.

"Don't feel bad," Jade sniggered in a very good approximation of Shego's own tone, adding, "Kim is still having trouble accepting that she cares just as much for you."

Shego glared at the dash, then looked back at Kim.

"Really," she finally asked. Her query a breathless expression of hope.

"Are you saying….?"

"Oh, kiss and get it over with," Jade blurted. "We do have a job to do _before_ the floating mirror down there does any more damage."

"Good point," Shego said, and strained to lean over to kiss Kim's nose. "I'll finish that later," she said, and pulled on her own helmet. "Just tell me what I'm doing here while you go off to try to kill yourself again."

"You're backup," Kim told her as she pulled on her helmet again. "I want Jade to link with my Kimmunicator, which will likely distract her when she helps me reprogram the module when I get to its brain. You have to have manual control of the lasers, and be ready to take out anything that might come at me. Or you."

"Wait. If she's distracted," Shego frowned as they pressurized their suits. "What about the flying?"

"I can manage that well enough," Jade assured her. "But keeping an eye on everything around us is going to be a bit hard even for me if I'm focusing on something as complex as reprogramming an alien machine for Kim. Don't worry, all you have to do is keep an eye on her, and shoot anything that looks threatening."

Shego scowled.

"Maybe I should just shoot that thing now," she muttered as Kim now depressurized the car as she prepared to put her plan into action.

"Give me a chance, Shego. This may work out easier than we expect."

"I really hate when you say things like that," Shego complained as Kim levered herself out of the car. "I mean, I really hate it."

"Why's that," Kim asked, now using her suit's mini-jets to guide her away from the car after carefully climbing out in zero gravity.

"Because that's just begging things to get worse," Shego complained as Kim allowed herself to float away from the Roth after the door closed soundlessly behind her.

Kim only laughed.

_To Be Continued…_


	17. Chapter 17

_I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Fallen Heroes **

**LJ58**

**17**

Shego watched her carefully as Kim floated with a maddeningly sedate pace toward the hovering platform.

She spotted the tiny flare of her suit's thrusters now and then as the redhead carefully adjusted her course so she was moving just where she wanted to be in relation to the control module on the top side of the massive platform near what seemed to be a miniature dome that might be the heart of the device.

"Can you still hear me, Jade," Shego asked.

"Of course, Shego. I am still here, after all."

"Good. Anyway, I was wondering, did you detect anything like lasers, or something obvious when you were scanning that thing?"

"Nothing obvious. As I said, there are still unknown variables at work here. Especially since I'm not sure how the satellite platform is defended as I couldn't actively scan it without giving our presence away."

"Right. Best guess. You think that thing has any serious armaments?"

"Anything is possible."

Shego grit her teeth.

"You know, you're as annoying as Kimmie at times."

"Does that mean you like me, too," Jade shot back.

"Aren't you supposed to be paying attention to Princess?"

"She's not there yet. I've enough processing ability to converse without issue just now."

"Wonderful. So, in other words, you don't have a clue either."

"Not one. So keep your eyes open, Light Bulb. You may have to save all of us."

She glanced at the manual laser control on the dash that Jade had activated for her, and grimaced.

"I'm telling you now, if it's a choice between Kimmie and that floating tinker toy, I'm blasting it to pieces."

"I believe she would understand."

"Yeah, you keep thinking that," Shego muttered, still unable to believe she had kissed her. Actually kissed her.

Okay, on the nose, but the darn suits were not made for things like that, and all she knew was at the moment she had needed to tell her…. Show her how she felt.

Just in case.

"I'm here," Kim's voice rasped over her transceiver even as Shego watched her roll over the edge of the platform, grab a support for one of the solar panels, and inch her way closer to the module behind that central dome.

"Slow and easy," Shego rasped herself, staring fixedly at the redhead as she crept over the surface of the platform, a small, whitish blob in the darkness around them as they moved into a denser field of wreckage.

She gaped when she saw a piece of thick steel with the NASA logo on it, and knew this debris field was likely part of what was left of the old ISN that once orbited over the planet.

"Careful, Kimmie," she called out. "We're getting into a pretty heavy debris field here."

"Don't worry. Jade's shields should keep anything from impacting her."

"I'm not worried about me, you moron," she shot back.

Kim only gave a soft chortle in reply.

"Almost there," she finally said, and put a gloved hand on the module's control panel, pushing a square she hoped was the same as any other modular control she had worked with in Wade's lab.

The faint vibrations she felt under her hand through the suit almost immediately faded, and she looked around, studying the dome, and the panels, and everything else carefully.

"I just shut down the primary functions, I think. Any troubling reactions from where you are," she called to Shego.

"Nothing. Everything still seems pretty frozen from here."

"Okay, I'm going to open it up."

Shego tensed, and watched her even more closely. She was unable to see her working, but knew something was going on because the AI's dash suddenly started glowing and flashing like a hyperactive disco ball. She watched the platform, trying not to focus solely on Kim, wanting to ensure she missed nothing as time seemed to pass in an agonizing stretch.

"Okay. I think we have it," Kim suddenly called back. "I'm going to switch the systems back…."

Shego's eyes suddenly rounded.

"Kim! Roll left now," Shego shouted as she immediately fired both front lasers at the ugly, mini-bot that had risen out of the dome, and was reaching for the redhead's helmet with two clawed appendages.

The blue beams cut into the metal guardian, cutting it into thirds that imploded, and drifted away even as Kim had rolled quickly away, almost floating off the platform before she had grabbed another of the support beams again, clinging to a solar mirror even as she stared at the small robot that was blasted virtually before her eyes.

"Don't move," Shego shouted over the com even as she blasted a second robot coming over the lip of the platform.

Even as she did, she noticed four more 'domes' from beneath the device were starting to move.

She targeted every one of them, even those yet to move, and started blasting anything that looked like the housing of a mini-warbot. She didn't stop until the only thing left were the solar mirrors, and the small control nodule atop the platform.

"Great shooting, Shego," Kim told her cheerfully as she moved back to the module. "I'm going to try to start this thing up now, and see if it works for us."

"Keep your eyes open all the same. And get ready to get off that thing if I have to blow it, too."

"Fingers crossed," Kim said in reply, and used her thrusters to move back to the module, and reached for the control panel.

She pressed the device, sealing the module's circuits once more even as she felt the vibrations of the working machinery under her glove again as she turned to see several of the nearest panels already slowly turning to alter their angles.

"I think it's working, Shego," she grinned. "I think it's working."

"Great. Now get back here, and let's go home!"

"On my way. And great job," she said again even as she pushed away from the platform, most of the debris field behind them now, and headed directly for the Roth. "Couldn't have done it without you."

Even as she moved, a flash of blue carved the darkness to her right, and another min-bot exploded.

"What'd I say, Princess. Keep your eyes open!"

"I'm back online, and in control of all systems," Jade reported just then. "Don't worry, Shego, I think you destroyed the last one. We should all be safe now," she said as the laser grid faded from the dash, and Shego glared at it.

A few minutes later, Kim clambered into the car, finally got inside, and pressurized the vehicle once more.

"Jade? Assessment?"

"If our calculations were anywhere near adequate, Kim," Jade remarked as they backed away from the platform, watching as the last of the mirrors slowly turned to angle so sunlight was now being reflected directly onto the planet once more. "Then we should be reheating the atmosphere sufficiently to warm the planet inside...two to six months."

"Won't you overheat things if you keep it going?"

"I've got a failsafe in place," Kim told her. "I put one of Drew's micro-explosives in the controlling module. Any time we need to shut it down, we can blow it remotely, and we'll be back on our own again. Which I'll do once I'm satisfied the artificial cold wave is really ended."

"Something to look forward to," Shego admitted even as Kim said, "Jade, take us home."

Shego almost yelled in relief when the car turned, and angled down toward the planet.

**KP**

"We're missing something," Kim said as they stood outside the second night of their return, Jade sitting quietly near the house as the redhead stared up at the sky. A now much clearer sky than before.

The first night had been spent flying around the planet, using Jade's new blue lasers to destroy the warbots wherever they were found.

Once, they were even close enough to a band of survivors in Europe that the people spotted them, and cheered manically at the flying bug that destroyed their attackers they had been holding off with stone spears and boulders from a cliff.

"Looks like we made their day," Shego had said when they flew over the small group of men that had taken refuge in the cliffs.

That had been a full day ago.

Now, she and Shego stood under a dark, almost clear sky, staring up at the stars for the first time in a long time.

"Still no signal?"

"No. The problem is, with the few working satellites literally few and far between, we might not detect it from here anyway. I'm going to have to go up, and try a grid search. It's the only way."

Shego put a hand on her shoulder, and turned her to face her.

"You just got back."

"We just got back," Kim smiled, still remembering that first, frantic kiss born of relief, and jubilation after they had gotten back, and stripped out of their gear.

Nothing had been said since, but there had been a lot of smiles, and wistful looks as they went about their usual business of trying to build their new world.

"What is it," Kim asked when she said nothing now, just staring at her.

"Can you really care for me?"

"Shego…."

"Think about it. We're it. Or….mostly it. Shouldn't we be finding someone to….make babies, too? Don't we have a duty to help…. Gah, you know? So how can we….? How do we…..?"

Kim smiled, and pulled her into a light embrace.

"What matters, whatever else, is how we feel," she said, and lightly kissed her without warning this time. "No matter who else is, or isn't out there, I would like to think it's still love that makes life worth living. And…. I couldn't have children anyway, so it hardly matters to me."

"You can't….?"

"One of the issues me and Ron faced back then," she admitted. "I had one too many mishap during the day. My metabolism is so screwed up that I was…. Well, I can't have children."

"Oh. I'm sorry," Shego said quietly, just holding her in turn, and enjoying the feel of her as she ignored the shadows behind those faintly lit windows where the others were inside around warm fires.

Things might be already gradually warming up, but they still had a long way to go, and the nights were still frigid. It didn't stop Kim from going outside, or Shego from following her.

"I wouldn't have changed one thing in my life even if I knew what would happen. I like to think I've made a difference. A real difference, even if GJ turned on me in the end."

"You know what's ironic? She tossed you away when she likely needed you most. I wonder if she realized that. At the end, I mean?"

"Knowing Betty? I don't doubt she went out fighting," Kim sighed.

"Probably lecturing those green dopes while she did," Shego smirked, and leaned down to kiss her again.

"Probably," she nodded. "Although, that's more Will Du's thing. Could you just imagine him quoting regs while those guys stomped over everything."

"Unfortunately," Shego grimaced.

"You know, I keep wondering. Is my family waiting? Did they volunteer? Wade? Ron?"

"Monkey-boy? From what I saw of him before the big chill, he was probably out there fighting to the last, too."

"Yeah. He really stepped up, didn't he," Kim sighed.

"Yeah," Shego murmured, and tightened her embrace. "But, you know, your folks, they might have volunteered. We could probably use them, too. I mean, your mom was a great doctor, and your dad…."

"Part of me hopes," Kim admitted. "Part of me doesn't want them waking up to….this," she said.

"Hey. We're alive. And we're still beating the odds," Shego told her. "Remember?"

"Yeah. Shego, I am glad you're here. I know I said it before, but…. I really am glad you're here."

"I'm kind of glad you're here, too, Princess," she murmured, and kissed her again.

Kim kissed back. Hard.

"So," Shego asked breathlessly when they finally parted. "When do you have to go?"

"Tomorrow. No offense, but I better take Sara again. We'll probably take off tomorrow early."

Shego stared into her eyes, refusing to release her.

"Then….tonight, you're mine, Kimmie," she murmured.

"No. I'm yours forever," Kim smiled, and let her lead her toward the shelter they shared when they both managed to be free.

**KP**

It was closer to noon before Kim and Sara, the Roth loaded with provisions for however long they would take, rose into the sky once more.

Shego stood watching her go, and Kim had felt part of her torn at leaving the woman behind again after what they had finally shared.

"You could have taken her, you know," Sara pointed out as they flew away from the growing settlement that was starting to come alive as the days began to warm more and more, and the ice obviously began to melt in earnest.

"They still need a strong leader, just in case something comes up. Both our groups," Kim pointed out quietly. "And we still have to assume the Lorwardians might still have other surprises out there waiting on us. Besides, I might need you again. Like in Peru."

"But, won't that power station grid do everything now?"

"We likely still have to activate something, or we would have heard something by now. Or that's my guess," Kim told her as they rose high over the continent, and Jade began the preprogrammed grid search they had developed to start hunting for the missing signal to find those sleeping volunteers.

Kim didn't want to admit she was afraid something might have happened to them, too, which was part of why she didn't want to think about her parents, or friends being out there waiting. Or dead.

Only that was silly.

Either way, they were long dead.

Long gone.

Still, if there was a chance, and knowing Wade, better than a chance, then she had to find those people. She had to wake them up. Whoever they were.

She studied the GPS grid map, and told Jade, "All right. Let's get to work."

Jade agreed, and the car increased speed as they began to electronically map the terrain below them as they began to search for the missing signal.

They flew over Europe next, and on into the Eastern stretches of what had once been China. They then angled south to run their search over the Southern Hemisphere, the long hours turning into days as they found nothing beyond those already detected few groups of human survivors, and little else.

Thankfully, they did not find any more warbots. None active, at least, and nothing else seemed to be happening as the planet slowly heated, and even though it was only the first week, it was obvious that the ice was going to be retreating soon enough.

Then, well into the fifth day, the frequency they were hunting suddenly chirped.

It was low, faint, and very distant, but it was there.

Kim almost cheered as Jade immediately altered course, and flew due south as the signal slowly began to intensify.

"We found it," Sara laughed with her as the chirping indicator grew louder, and stronger with every second.

"There," Kim realized, noting the finally pinpointed the beacon on the GPS grid. "That's why we didn't get it. It's in Antarctica," Kim laughed as Jade's GPS now sang with the stronger than ever beacon. "They literally hid at the bottom of the world."

"The last place anyone would look," Surge agreed, and sat back in the seat, feeling more than alive despite the long, wearying hours of the long fifth day of their anxious search.

"Jade, can you contact Shego?"

"Not at this angle," Kim was told. "We'll have to wait to get back into range unless a stray satellite comes around."

"She's never going to believe this," Kim grinned as they flew down toward the icy plain, and the foothills of a jutting, ice-covered mountain where the signal originated.

"I'm not sure I do," Sara said. "I don't think that's a mountain, Kim," Sara pointed out as they neared the source of the signal that marked the end of their quest.

Even as they landed near what Jade determined was the closest point to the signal, she realized what Sara meant.

"Wow," she murmured, staring up at the huge, metallic cylinder that looked like a grande-sized version of one of her dad's Keppler rockets.

"I'm running a scan on it now, but it's hazy. They're obviously heavily shielded, but this close….I think there's a hatch three meters to our left, Kim," Jade told her.

"Let's go," Kim said, pushing the activator for her battle suit even as she opened the car's door.

"Right," Sara agreed, and activated her own suit, just in case.

The pair of them trudged through knee-deep snow, and finally reached a rocky incline that led up to the silver behemoth covered in snow and ice. Kim used a gloved fist, and brushed away enough to expose a panel with a single indent.

She pushed it, and for a moment nothing happened.

Then the air steamed around the hatch, and stale air rushed out as the hatch hissed, and parted.

"Looks like this one may be easy," Kim grinned, and stepped up into the hatch.

Sara followed, leaving the hatch open behind them just in case.

Kim turned to follow the beacon, and was led to a huge, curved control deck sealed by massive shutters over a curved viewport. She walked up to the dimly lit consoles, and looked for anything she might recognize.

"There must be some power already on," Sara realized.

"It's all on standby. With the null-field shielding it, the ship survived like Jade did without anything to bother it. We just need to start it up."

"Voice recognition," a mechanical voice intoned. "Kimberly Anne Possible. Do you desire system initiation?"

"Yes," Kim shouted. "Turn on everything!"

"All systems initializing. Primary power activated. All systems on standby," the voice reported.

"Computer….."

"This is control matrix designate: Janus," the voice informed her.

"Okay, Janus," Kim said, watching the bridge come to life. "Where are the cryo-sleepers?"

"My hold is currently occupied by the humans under my care," the obvious AI informed her. "Observe the monitor to your right."

She looked, and so did Sara as the monitor flashed to life, and the pink-haired girl whistled softly at the image displayed there.

"There must be thousands of people in here," Sara exclaimed as they saw the camera angle change, and pan an obviously very large hold.

"Tens of thousands," Kim agreed, estimating the number by what she could make out.

"I am currently housing three hundred and fifty thousand cyro-units," Janus informed them.

"Have any….expired," Kim asked uneasily, trying to imagine that many people packed into the large ship. Trying to imagine that many people giving up their lives to risk waking up after a dangerous hibernation to an uncertain future.

"Negative," Janus informed her. "All units are active, and functioning nominally."

"Then, it's time to wake them up," Kim declared. "Where's the control to wake them up," she asked.

"The lever to your left overrides all control systems, and wakes the sleepers," Janus told her as a green light chirped near a small lever on the console.

She looked to the lever, and walked over to it, almost smiling when she saw the familiar Team Possible logo scratched into the panel, and studied it. "We've got enough power to wake them all up," she said, double-checking the indicators herself, and glanced over at Surge. "It looks like Janus' EM-shields kept them all safe, too."

"Naturally," Janus retorted dryly.

"Ready for company," Kim asked her companion without acknowledging the AI.

Sara swallowed hard. The past few weeks had been beyond weird. Now they were about to wake up people that had actually volunteered to be frozen to face an uncertain future even as aliens had been attacking their world. Only these people might know what had really happened back then. They might know what had happened to…..everyone else.

"Do it," Sara nodded.

"Here goes everything," Kim said with a wide grin, and threw the switch.

_Not The End…_


End file.
